


Seabound

by SnailLoser



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 1700s, Escape, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mermaids, Multi, Music, Oceans, Other, Pirates, Poly, Royalty, Sailors, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Sirens, Slow Burn, Swords, They're All Gay, Violence, around then, chan is soft, like around the 1700s, lonly chan, lovey squishy stray kids, mermaid! ot7 skz, ot8 skz, possibly, prince! chan, runaways - Freeform, they're all soft tbh, this isnt based in a real world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:35:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 40,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24492121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnailLoser/pseuds/SnailLoser
Summary: Prince Bang loved swimming at night, he loved how quiet it was and how peaceful. one night he got caught in the undertow, unable to fight his way back to shore he gets dragged out deeper to sea and get rescued by...something, seven somethings...(also posted on wattpad, I have a bunch more skz fanfics on there under the account SnailLoser as well!)
Relationships: Stray Kids Ensemble/Everyone
Comments: 76
Kudos: 141





	1. One

Chan was tired, to say the least. as the crown Prince he never had time to do what he loved, so each night as the moon climbed high in the sky he snuck out, past the palace gates, and the guards who pretended they didn't notice him. he saddled his horse and rode down towards the sea, he was always fond of swimming, his father used to tell him stories of the deep blue and the creatures that dwelled there. his favorites were always of the merfolk and their palaces and tails, and of course the enchanting songs they sang. His father, the king, had gotten caught in a storm when he was young and his boat sank. He remembered how much he had cried for his beloved father, and his mother soon fell into a deep depression after the loss of her dear husband. leaving Chan to deal with many of the king's duties. 

He dismounted his horse and hooked his halter to the fence lining the beach, leaving him with a bucket of water and a couple of sugar cubes that he had dug out of his pocket. Rushing down towards the water that was gently lapping at the sand he kicked off his shoes and tugged his overshirt over his head, tossing both to the side before running barefoot down the pier and diving off the end, little did he know that seven pairs of eyes watched him from behind a rock peninsula that children played on during the day. 

Chan floated on him back after about thirty minuted of ducking waves and attempting to catch the tiny fish that were brave enough to swim near him. he didn't see the wave building behind him and by the time he felt the swell pulling he reacted too late, getting forcibly dunked and pulled around harshly until he couldn't tell which way was up, water filling his lungs and mouth as he tried to fight his way up, eventually he stopped his fight, his eyes closing slowly and he hung suspended under the water. 

"Where did he go?!" one of the seven who had watched him in the water, a young merman named Seungmin called towards the other six mermen who respectively went by the names of; Jeongin, Felix, Jisung, Hyunjin, Changbin, and Minho. he quickly dove under another wave, they were getting harsher as time went on and he feared the worst for the young prince who was sucked under. the other six followed him quickly, communicating telepathically as they swam under the water. 

"you think he's..." Minho's thought trailed off unpleasantly, the rest grimacing worriedly at the motion of the Prince being drowned, they had always admired him. occasionally they had watched from afar as he played with his parents when he was younger- before his father died and his mother forbade him from going near the water again. the prince was several years older than most of them, Minho being the oldest and just a year and a few weeks younger. 

"No, he can't be." Felix's reasonable voice cut through the endless stream of worries in each merman's mind 'We all know he's a strong swimmer. he carries Mer blood in his veins.' the others nodded. unknown to his family the prince did in fact has Mer blood, dating back generations but still very present in the young man. 

"Look!!" Jeongin, the youngest and one of the two boys, the other was Felix with his stunning multicoloured sunset scales, with any colour of scales besides the normal blues, greens, and neutrals, his flaming red tail stood out. he had grown up in a reef so the natural camouflage had helped him before he joined the deep Mers and then the red scales had gotten him in a fair bit of trouble. "I see him!" he took off ahead in the direction of the boy floating in the water, scales flashing as the rest tried to keep up. 

Jisung reached Chan first, coming as no surprise to the rest of the Mers, Jisung was one of the best racers in their pod, his tail, like Hyunjins, had no scales and was smooth and resembled that of a dolphin. he grabbed the prince around the waist and began hauling him to the surface 'Help me!!' he pleaded with his friends in his mind, Changbin and Minho immediately looped Chan's arms over their shoulders and helped drag him to shore. the younger Mers followed right behind, glancing around, Worried of being spotted.

Eventually, they succeeded in dragging Chan onto the soft sand, the Mers flopping ungracefully next to him. "is he alive?" Felix was the first to speak, his heavily accented voice ringing out over the empty beach and echoing off the rocks, he covered his mouth quickly, he had a habit of speaking very loudly at the switch between ocean and land. his friends all shot him looks that said 'quiet down, idiot.' before Changbin responded with;

"No. but we have to get the water out of his lungs." he and Minho leaned over the man lying flat on his back in the sand, beginning to chant a spell to call forth the water. Chan almost immediately sat bolt upright, coughing up the water. The Mers dove behind rocks to hide as Chan looked around, trying to see who had pulled him from the waters, he spotted Jeongin peering around the boulders he hid behind right before Seungmin and Felix grabbed him and pulled him back. "wait!" Chan called out and the Mers all froze, glancing at each other in panic "Was it you that saved me?" He stood, somewhat shakily and his head spun. he stumbled towards the rocks that the Mers hid behind, luckily for the seven boys hiding before Chan could get close enough to see them, his advisor, a slightly older gentleman who had served his father as well, rushed towards Chan, "Sire! You were supposed to be back for breakfast! why are you soaking? are you okay? you look pale!" Chan promptly slumped forward into his advisor's arms, the exhaustion finally getting to him, the man caught him quickly, carrying his prince back to his horse to return to the castle for medical attendance. 

The Mers sank under the waves, hoping that they had saved him. Minho scolded Jeongin on the way back home "How could you let him see you?" his harsh voice cut into the youngest's head, making him flinch "I'm sorry, Hyung. It won't happen again!" he said, sounding so distraught that Minho had to take pity on the boy "It better not." He flashed a tiny smile in the direction of Jeongin to show he wasn't upset and swam ahead to talk with Changbin. Hyunjin took his spot beside Jeongin and started up a conversation about going back to the coral reef to collect some and bringing it to the elder Mers before they departed the pod for their final journey. it made the pod sad to see their elders leave, but that was how things went in the sea. after a certain age, Mers would swim the ocean and eventually become part of it. dissolving into seafoam or becoming a flowering plant under the sea.


	2. Two

"Come on Innie!!" Hyunjins teasing voice rung out over the water as the ravenette trod water over the reef. Jeongin caught up to him quickly, Giggling as he clipped his Hyung with his shoulder. "Hows about we have a little contest?" Jeongin challenged, Hyunjin perked up immediately "What kind of contest?" they soon settled on having to collect two conch seashells and eight pieces of the sea coral each, and the loser would have to take over the winners duties in the pod for a week. 

They returned to the underwater city later, Jeongin triumphantly spinning and laughing all the way back, he had won, obviously, he had used to live in the reef and knew it better than Hyunjin. Hyunjin, However, watched him with a small smile playing on his lips, he had let the younger win, wanting to see the younger boy this happy once again. His mother, you see, had been speared by a human fishing ship a few short months ago, luckily the rope had snapped on the spear and they hadn't managed to pull her body up and discover them. however, her death forced Jeongin to move into the deep sea city alone and afraid, so Hyunjin and the rest of his friends had been trying to bring the boy back out of his shell. 

they reached the city gates quite quickly, the guards opened them after the two mermen had shown their pendants that proved they were from the city, Jisung swam up to them as soon as they entered "Where have you guys been? the departing ceremony is starting!" he grabbed them both by their hands and began pulling them towards the palace. the three of them squeezed through the crowd to join their other friends by the edge of the railing. The four elders who were leaving spoke to the queen for a brief moment before turning to the crowd to say their goodbyes, Seungmins grandmother was amongst them, the poor boy tried to keep a neutral face as he watched his beloved grandmother, his blue scales glinting back and forth as he swished his tail around, Felix held his hand in support and Jisung joined Lix beside their best friend, placing a hand on Seungmins back. The queen finally called down relatives and the boys all gave Seungmin tight smiles and patted his shoulders, Min turned to say his final goodbyes to his Gran and Hyunjin pressed the seashells that he and Jeongin had collected together into his hands, Min hugged him quickly before joining the elders and hugging his Gran tightly, giving her the shells and accepting her kiss on the forehead. the elders prepared to leave, his Gran let go of his hand gently and smiled warmly, "I love you, Min." She transmitted to him, and although no one else could hear her, the crowd all felt the pain of the boy with the blue scales. 

Chan gazed out over the ocean, who had saved him yesterday? who was that boy? why had they saved him? He sighed deeply, his mother had flipped on him and grounded him to his quarters. He watched the waves crash over the rocks and the seabirds flock over what must be a school of fish in the water. He wanted to go swimming again, to find the boy who had saved him, but he had been told to get some rest. his limbs still ached from fighting the undertow the day before and yet he still yearned to get back in the water. he heard his mother enter the room and looked behind him, she beckoned him towards her and he sat on the edge of his bed, "Yes, Mother?" He tilted his head, she never came to his room anymore. not since his father died, she said it reminded her of him too much. She smiled, tilting his head up to look her in the eye,

"My son..." She trailed off, trying to find the right words, "I fear that we are drifting apart." She said finally and Chan gasped and shook his head quickly "Never!" He said although he knew it was true, His mother sat next to him, taking both his hands in hers "Do not deny it, we both know the unfortunate truth. you are no longer just a boy." her eyes glimmered with tears, knowing her son was grown "you do not deserve to be treated as one." Chan hugged her tightly, he knew his mother meant well in attempting to keep him within the castle walls, she had been unsuccessful but she had done her best. she hugged him back sadly, "You may leave your quarters, however, you must continue with your princely duties." He nodded "More than fair, mother." And like that, she rose, patted him on the cheek once, and left his room. leaving him to flop back on his bed, deep in his thoughts. he soon fell asleep on his bed, and when his advisor, Jinyoung, came to wake him he found the prince tangled in his sheets.

"Sire?" Jinyoung pulled Chan to an upright position but the younger man just groaned tiredly and attempted to lay back down, Jinyoung finally succeeded in waking him up fully and   
Chan rubbed his eyes of sleep, "What is it, Jinyoung?" He asked, "Your presence is needed in the ballroom." his advisor smiled at the prince, he had always been fond of the boy, his father had been his best friend. "Why?" Chan finally stood up and began combing out his bedhead, "we are having several of the governors and royal families over to meet with them and discuss new trade routes and such. do you not remember?" Jinyoung watched Chan in amusement and he attempted to unsuccessfully untangle his curls, "Oh, right. it slipped my mind." Chan had somehow gotten his comb stuck and Jinyoung swiftly walked over to help, gently detangling his hair, "Go get dressed and I will walk down with you." He told the younger and went to sit on his bed. 

Chan soon emerged from his closet and Jinyoung stood up to walk with him towards the ballroom, once they got there the young prince was immediately sucked into the planing by the staff and his mother. It was amusing really, watching him flounder slightly at being asked whether he preferred royal purple or royal blue and what fold of napkin he thought was best. finally, his mother released him from the planning after he made a few too many bad decisions on the decor, "You have your father's planning skills." she sighed and shook her head in mock disappointment, Chan broke into a smile, showing off his deep dimples "Sorry, Mother. I promise to be of more assistance during the actual event." He tilted his head slightly as he turned to leave the room, his mother watching him go with a loving twinkle in her eye, "Don't go in the water again, you are still weak!" She called after him in concern, hoping her son had more sense than that.


	3. Three

While Chan did not go swimming he did go down to the private beach in front of the palace to watch the waves and write in his notebook. every so often he heard what sounded like whispering and he kept looking around for the source of it, not seeing the glinting of scales in the water or the heads that occasionally broke the surface. He eventually stood and closed his book "Okay! Whos here? show yourself!" he said in clear annoyance and the Merboys realized that they had not been quiet enough, All six of them, minus Seungin as he grieved the loss of his Gran, the others would join him later but the first part of the grieving would be completed by family and Seungmin had wanted them to go without him and tell him what happened, ducked back under the waves and the other five stared dead at Felix, it was his idea to come by and see if the prince was okay, and he was being the loudest. "Hello?" Chan now sounded afraid, he then saw bright red glinting in the sun and paused, covering his eyes to see better against the glare, "Shit, Jeongin hide...he can see you!" Changbin tugged the youngest deeper into the water, there was nowhere to hide, the humans had gotten rid of the rocks around here to get rid of the possible danger of grounding a boat on one, Chan walked down the dock that he and his father used to launch a sailboat off of and sat on the edge of it "what are you?!" He called out, was he going crazy? he wondered, talking to something in the water didn't seem like something a sane person would do, little did he know of the argument going on under the waves. "I say we show ourselves to him," Felix said, Jeongin backing him up while the other four hesitated on it "What if he tells everyone else about us though?" Minho asked as the oldest he felt the need to be the voice of reason, Jisung wavered between the two groups before joining Lix "I don't think he would." 

"Hello?!" Chan yelled again, starting to give up, but just as he was starting to stand he saw a head poke through the water, the boy he had seen the day he had almost drowned, the Minho and Changbin attempted to pull Jeongin back under but he resisted and swam towards the dock "What the hell?!" Chan scrambled backwards, he didn't expect anything-anyone to actually respond and he thought Merfolk died out years and years ago, after a war between them and humans, "No wait!" Jeongin reached a hand up at him "I apologise, I did not mean to startle you." Chan slowly leaned over the side of the dock and gasped as the other five Mers surfaced beside the red-scaled boy "Jeongin! why did you do that? now he knows! you know we cannot trust humans!" Changbin hit the younger boy in the shoulder and looked up at the prince with pleading eyes "Please do not hurt us. do not tell the landdwellers we are alive..." he sounded so afraid and small that Chan softened "I won't...obviously, but who are you?" he asked, "And was it you who saved me?" This time Jisung answered, "To answer your first question, we are Mers...obviously, sorry...our names are Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, And Jeongin. I'm Jisung and the last of us is Seungmin however he is mourning and will not be joining us." He motioned to each merboy as he spoke their names "And yes, it was us who saved you."

Chan nodded slowly, processing the new information "Thank you for saving me," He paused briefly "Is everything okay...? you said he was mourning...?" "He will be. his Gran has departed, but that's none of your concern." Minho responded, "And you're welcome." he glanced at the other Mers next to him "We should get back home to mourn with him though." he dipped his head in a small bow of respect at Chan "Thank you for not killing us, I suppose." "You're welcome?" Chan smiled confusedly, some of the Mers hadn't even spoken, however, if they were in grief he understood he hadn't wanted to speak when his father passed either, however when the Mers turned to leave he felt the need to call after them "Wait!" They all paused before swimming away "When will I see you again?" He asked and the boy-Jeongin- he remembered looked back at him "Be here at midnight on the night of the new moon." he said before the Mers disappeared under the waves. 

The Mers arrived back at the gates and entered quickly, swimming as fast as they could so they could find Seungmin and console their friend. They quickly found him in one of the caverns, when the city was built the first Mers had placed a spell on several caverns as well as every house in the city so they were half full of air as communicating telepathically was sometimes difficult to keep up, The poor boy was crying into his hands as he sat on a flat rock that peaked out of the water in place of a chair, no one else was here, Jisung assumed it was because they were saying their own goodbyes or going back to their jobs. They all swam next to the rock Seungmin perched upon and hauled themselves up, taking the boy into their arms and wishing that they had stayed instead of going and watching the prince. Changbin brushed Seungmins hair out of his eyes and wiped his tears away with his thumbs "I'm so sorry, We should have stayed..." he murmured, as Seungmin leaned into his chest with his shoulders shaking, "No..." The crying boys' voice was unsteady "What happened?" He looked back up at the others and the Minho and Felix began to tell the story, Seungmin listening intently "I can't believe you guys revealed yourselves without me..." He sniffled "You should have waited for me..." the other boy's hearts cracked at the sight of him crying "We're sorry..." Hyunjin whispered and they all tackle hugged the boy, Seungmin started crying again, he didn't know why this time, the fact that his best friends had done something that he had so badly wanted to do without him or that his Gran was gone, probably a combination of both. they soon slipped into the water gently, all six of his friends guiding him to Jeongins house so they could talk properly without the fear of someone else swimming in and hearing him, once they reached the apartment Jeongin opened the door and they all moved towards the air pocket in the living area, once they were all there they sat on one of Jeongins large plush cushions to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unedited!! I will be going through this chapter again, it is very late right now so I'll check it over in the morning!


	4. Four

Seungmin cried for a while longer, his friends comforting him gently, Lix rubbing small circles on his back and humming a small song before Seungmin finally fell asleep in his arms. "We should have waited for him to reveal ourselves to the prince..." Changbin said softly, looking at Mins' red eyes and tear tracks, "I agree..." Minho said, "We should have stayed with him., we can't make this mistake again...on the new moon we will make sure he joins us." they all nodded as they watched their friend sleep, Jeongin, who was known in the friend group for rejecting Seungmins affection, cuddled up next to him and immediately one of Seungmins arms locked around him so that both him and Jeongin were crushed against Felix's chest, "hmmph-" Jeongin loosened his friend's arm from around his waist so he could move into a more comfortable position. The others cooed at the three youngest, making no move to help free them fro Seungmins death grip, soon, Jisung and Changbin couldn't resist joining the cuddle, Hyunjin and Minho watched them snuggle into each other and gave in almost immediately to join them, poor Felix was being crushed slightly but thought the others were too cute to bother, soon, they all fell asleep together, grouping together for warmth as the temperature under the water dropped overnight. 

Seungmin was the first to awaken, attempting to escape the pile of his friends but soon realized the grip that Felix and Changbin had on him was too tight to wriggle out of, so he lay his head back down and waited for someone else to wake up and it wasn't long before Jeongin woke up as well, attempting to push off of Seungmins chest and that was when Min realized how tight his own grip was on the younger boy, apologizing he let go, 

"Morning 'Minnie," Jeongin said, his voice still deep from sleep "Hey 'Innie," Seungmin said back, neither of them made any move to try to get up again and they just lay in comfortable silence for a while before Jeongin spoke again "I'm sorry we went without you...It was my fault that we met the prince, I'm sorry..." His voice broke a little bit at the thought of Seungmin being mad at him and Min immediately hushed him "No!" Jeongin looked surprised at the slight outburst from the older boy "I mean, No...I'm more upset because of my Gran...Not because you guys spoke to him..." He said, and that was when the others began waking up, they slowly detangled, most of them rolling back into the water, no one liked the feeling of a dry tail. 

"So..." Minho broke the silence first as they ate, a simple breakfast of leftover soup heated up over a tiny hot water geyser, the others turned their attention to him, "What are we doing today...?" he was speaking mostly talking to Seungmin, "Can we go around the beach and look for things that got washed into the water?" Seungmin asked hopefully, he had a fascination with the human objects that sometimes ended up in the shallows of the beaches, children's toys, and occasionally pieces of sunken ships that would wash up. "Sure, Min." Jisung ruffled his hair affectionately, Seungmin ducked away from his hand in mock annoyance, in reality, he did love the way Jisung would lovingly play with his hair but it made the older boy pout when he rejected his advances and they all thought it was too cute to give in straight away. 

They soon finished eating, they all put on one of the many shirts that had been left behind at Jeongins house over the past couple months since most of them were at least half deep-sea Mer and their skin wasn't meant for the sunlight, besides Felix and Jeongin who had been reef-dwellers and shallow Mers. 

They had challenged each other to a race to the shallows but soon regretted it as Jisung sped out of sight with Hyunjin on his tail, the others ended up giving in about halfway there and just let those two battle it out, Felix and Jeongin swam near the surface, drinking in the sunlight and their gorgeous tails glowing under it, the other three watched them in awe, their tails didn't quite catch sunlight like that, their scales were all dark, Seungmin with navy blue, Changbins a dark, muddled green and Minho with a beautiful dark grayish purple. it was a natural camouflage against the dark colours in the darkest parts of the ocean where they came from. Jisung and Hyunjin at this point had noticed the others weren't close behind them as they had thought and doubled back to find them, joining the three in watching the two boys play by the surface, "They're stunning..." Hyunjin transmitted in pure awe, the others agreed immediately, they loved watching these two in their natural element. as much as they always said they didn't miss the reef and the colours that came with it, the others could tell it was a lie. They reached the shallower part of the ocean pretty quickly and Seungmin dove to the sandy bottom as soon as they did to search for the trinkets he so desired. 

Seungmin had collected sea glass, a piece of driftwood with a name carved into it, and a necklace with a pearl on it, which he held for a few minutes before explaining it reminded him of his Gran. They soon swam to the surface to check how many humans were on the beach and if they could go nearer and to their shock, there was no one there, not on the pier nor in the boats on it. "I wonder why..." Changbin said, "That's why!" Felix said in a panicked pointed behind them, none of them had noticed when the sun went away, too focused on sifting the sand, but the sky was a dark, stormy gray, "We should get back to the city before that storm rolls in more." Felix said and Jeongin agreed, the two had seen enough bad storms when they lived closer to the surface to know when one was going to be back enough to rip the trees that lined the cliffs by the beach out of the ground, and this was one of those storms. Jeongin couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the change in the wind and the sun going away, he had grown used to the darkness living in the deep. it started drizzling quickly as they rounded the group back up and as they began swimming back the storm picked up, it became obvious that they were going to have to fight the waves back home, Felix, Jeongin, Jisung, and Hyunjin tried to grad the other three to help swim home but they were all weighed down by what they had collected and it was becoming difficult to move, thunder cracked overhead and they all flinched, the lightning hit a tree and it burst into flames, in the few moments they had been distracted another swell rose and sent them spinning as it crashed, they managed to hold onto each other and make it to the ocean floor to swim away, it wasn't until they were much deeper that they realized there was only six of them.


	5. Five

Minho was spinning, he was holding Seungmins hand not even a minute ago, he could see the rain pelting the surface before he hit a rock hard, and rolled. he saw a wood pole in the ground and realized where he was- the royal private beach. another massive wave sent him towards the beach and then; he was stuck, he couldn't move, what was on him? He soon realized it was a fishing net and panicked more, fighting the restraint that had his arms pinned next to him, he wriggled in the hopes that he could get out, he felt the pulling of another wave and attempted to get under the dock but no such luck, the wave sent him onto the beach, bound and...bleeding? he soon realized the fishing hook stuck in the fin and partly embedded in his actual tail, "Shit." He muttered to himself, unable to get back in the water, he spat out some sand and realized, someone was going to see him. 

Chan watched the storm, he hated storms. his father had died in one and now, there was a tree near the lighthouse that was on fire. He hoped the people in the village were okay, most hid out in the city hall for the bad storms like this one. he saw a glint of red out the corner of his eye but when he grabbed his binoculars there was nothing, he had wondered, for a moment, if it was the merboy, if it was, he was gone by now. he turned his attention back to the royal private beach and watched the waves crash. he had been watching for a couple of minutes before..."What is that...?" He whispered, once again grabbing his binoculars and he gasped as soon as he saw what it was, he grabbed a jacket and knife, just in case, and ran down the stairs by his balcony and threw the gate open before tripping over himself and tumbling down the hill by the beach, he stood up again and dashed towards the Mer laying trapped in a net on the sand, he kneeled next to the boy "Holy shit are you okay?" He recognized the other as one of the Mers who had saved him, "I'm stuck and bleeding." Minho deadpanned, a brief look of hurt crossed Chans features before he grabbed his knife and Minho flinched and looked away "I'm sorry! please don't hurt me!" "hey-no no, I'm just cutting you out!" Minho relaxed and Chan cut through the nets and pulled them off him before examining the hook in the Mers tail "I'm going to have to cut this out, too. it's barbed at the end and I don't want to rip your tail, it would take longer to heal." He looked apologetically at Minho, who looked at him for a moment before saying "Very well if you have too. just please...do it quickly," Chan nodded and held his tail down as to not make a worse wound before he placed the knife above the hook and made two precise, clean cuts on either side of the hook before pulling it out and placing his own jacket over the bleeding wound and applying pressure, Minho sucked in as soon as the knife touched his skin and clenched his fists in the sand to stop from making noise. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!" Chan pulled a roll of bandages out of the bag that had his knife in it and wrapped the tail tightly, "Better?" Minho nodded slowly "yes...thank you..." He said sincerely, "I mean you saved my life..." Chan responded, "I just returned the favor," The prince looked over the Mer to make sure he had no other injuries, "But I don't think you should swim back out in that storm..." Minho nodded "But I don't know what to do otherwise..." "you can wait out the storm here if you'd like...I could probably carry you to my room...how long can you survive out of water?" Chan suggested slowly, "I can be out of the water, it's just uncomfortable, but I think that might be the best option..." Minho said, "I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused." "Don't." Chan silenced him "You have caused me no trouble," He reassured the younger boy "I'm going to pick you up to take you to my room." and so he did, picking up the Mer with ease, making the boy in his arms flush a little bit, glad for the cove of the storm. the prince carried him up the stairs and set him down on a chaise lounge in his room, the two spoke a bit as Chan decided to put stitches in the cut in Minho's tail, just in case. 

"Do you think he's okay?" Changbin asked, they had decided to wait out the storm in the air caver closest to the beach and they were all worried sick about their oldest Hyung. Seungmin, who had just lost his Gran and was the one closest to Minho when he got separated was once again close to tears, Felix was by the entrance, watching the waves from underneath and waiting for it to be safe enough to go to find him, "He's fine, Right Hyung?" Jeongin spoke to Hyunjin, leaning on his shoulder and looking up at him, his eyes searching Hyunjins face as he waited for the answer, Hyunjin hesitated before answering, "Minho Hyung is strong, okay?" He finally said, "He'll be okay." He wished he knew his words were true and he wasn't giving the others false hope. 

Back with the Prince and Minho, Chan had discovered that Minho did not have high pain tolerance, the poor Mer was crushing one of Chan's pillows in pain as the prince stitched up the cut in his tail, Chan finally finished after what felt like an eternity to Minho and he rewrapped the bandages, "You should be ready to go back in the water as soon as you can." He smiled warmly at the Mer and Minho felt his heart skip a beat, he hoped his cheeks weren't turning red, but Chans smile was so...perfect, the dimples and his pink lips...Minho shook his head of those thoughts, he barely knew this man, they had only really met twice. a knock sounded at the door and Chan panicked, "Shit," He hissed before calling back "Who is it?" he breathed a sigh of relief as it was just Jinyoung, "Sire? Who are you speaking to?" "uh...no one! myself?!" Chans' voice came out an octave higher than usual "Okay..." Jinyoungs voice sounded unsure before his footsteps sounded down the hall and his own bedroom door opened and closed, Chan breathed a sigh of relief "Sorry..." He apologized to the Mer, still fearing that his advisor knew of the other boy inside the room, Minho shook his head quickly to deflect the concern "Don't be, however, I believe the storm will be passing soon." and he was right, as awful as the storm had been, it was short-lived. the weak rays of sunlight peaked through the heavy cloud cover and the rain slowly came down to a light drizzle. Chan couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed at the thought of the Mer having to leave so quickly, his friends must be worried, "Yes," He agreed, "Shall I bring you back down to the sea? Your friends may be searching for you."


	6. Six

The six mermen set out as soon as the waves slowed to search for Minho, Seungmin, still shaken up by the storm trailed behind them until Felix doubled back to pull him faster, "We should check the cove by the royal beach." Changbin suggested and the rest agreed quickly, following close behind him. They reached the cove and fanned out, searching for their best friend, until they heard the gates leading down towards the beach and all hid behind rocks, watching as the prince carried a familiar figure down to the water. 

Hyunjin and Jisung hovered in the water uncertainly, why was Minho with the prince? did something happen? was he okay? Jisung gasped once he saw the white bandages stained red wrapped around his friend's tail and Hyunjin noticed soon after, the two motioned wildly at the others, maybe the prince had done it, maybe he got spooked by the young Mer in the storm. Changbin watched as Chan carefully placed Minho down into the water and he relaxed slightly as he made eye contact with Minho underwater. Jeongin, having no patience, barreled straight into his Hyungs arms, squealing loudly. the two spun in the water, soon the rest joined the hug, dragging Minho further underwater, Seungmin close to tears once again, overjoyed that his Hyung was okay. 

Chan watched as the Mers sank underwater with a small smile decorating his face, one head broke the surface first and he recognized the boy as Jisung, the rest of the Mers resurfaced, two pulling themselves up on the dock, Seungmin and Hyunjin, "Thank you so much!" Hyunjin giggled and sat on the edge of the dock, Beaming as Minho struggled to stay out of the water, the others still clinging to him. Chan smiled back at the boy, "Glad to help," he paused "you saved my life...I couldn't just leave him, could I?" He looked at the Mers floating in the water, still tangled together, Jisung pressing a kiss against Minho's cheek, he felt a pang of jealously as he watched them so happy together, he didn't have friends, only really interacting with the staff and his mother at the palace. He knew he had no real right to be jealous, the boys were obviously so happy together and he was just alone, he had never thought that much into it. when he was younger he had his father and the staff to play with, and he never truly realized how alone he really was as he grew up. 

"Hello? Prince Bang?" He shook his head quickly, coming back to reality as Felix snapped his fingers in front of the prince's face, "Are you okay? You look sad." Felix, Chan realized, had pulled himself up onto the dock alongside the other two, and they were all gazing worriedly at the prince. "Yes, I'm alright," Chan answered quickly, too quickly, the Mers thought, "Just zoned out." the eldest boy smiled, flashing his dimples at the Mers, but the sad look behind his eyes never left, "You guys should probably head home, your people are probably looking for you guys," He said, and the Mers realized he was right, they had left the day before and then never returned, their families were probably worried sick, "And Minho, make sure to be careful not to rip those stitches before your tail heals," Chan warned the boy, concerned that his wound would get infected, Minho nodded "I'll be careful. thank you again, Prince." He dipped his head, Chan waved his hand a bit "Just Chan is fine. Or Chris, please, no need to be so formal," He watched their faces shift to surprised, surprised that a human could be so selfless. to help one of them and then not ask to be addressed as a superior was a change from the stories they had been told growing up. Changbin nodded "Okay, Chan, then." He smiled at the prince "Thank you again for saving him, and for not telling everyone about us." Chan waved him off, "I only did what any good person would do." with that, the Mers all waved, grinning at the boy sitting on the dock, and swam home, leaving Chan alone with his thoughts.

Chan hugged his legs to his chest as he watched them go, he couldn't help the feeling washing over him, the loneliness he never truly realized until he met these Mers, he wanted to know them better, he wanted to be their friend, maybe more, he quickly shook himself of that thought, he wasn't even sure they liked other men, the people in the village, as well as his mother, always said that it was a sin to love the same gender, so when he realized he did, as well as the fact he was attracted to more than one person at once, he could never really tell anyone. his past crushes were all on the staff who worked in the palace, and once his mother realized her sons interest in them she soon replaced most of the workers with women in an attempt to squash the feelings she knew her son had. 

Chan gazed out over the sea, hoping he would see the Mers again soon, hoping they would actually come back, he put his head down, feeling the tears prick at his eyes, blinking hard against the feeling of pure hopelessness falling over him, soon, he was crying into his hands, not just a few tears but sobbing, taking gasping breaths and shaking violently he sat there until the sun was bordering the horizon once again, he had sat there the full day, he realized, his face red and his eyes puffy, he had cried himself out a while ago and just stared. he couldn't believe he had never realized how alone he was, sure he had Jinyoung but he was just his advisor, his fathers best friend, he wasn't truly someone Chan could talk to about his feelings and thoughts, he lay on his back, the sky turning a violent red over him, his eyes tired from the amount he had cried, he slowly fell asleep on the dock. he and his father used to do this together, curling up under a blanket and counting stars until they both fell asleep, he finally closed his eyes, shivering in the cold evening air, and fell asleep over the water gently lapping at the wooden docks.


	7. Seven

As the Mers swam through the city they were tackled by their families, Jeongin watching sadly from a few feet away before Minho's mother pulled him into a hug, crushing the poor boy in her arms.

"Where have you been?!" The Mothers clustered around them worriedly, examining Minho for injuries and his own mom checked his tail wound, clicking her tongue disapprovingly "Which of you boys dressed this wound? It's very...human," the boys all looked at each other, fearing they were about to be found out, "I did it," Felix volunteered, "I learned human techniques while I was living in the reef," Minho nodded quickly, "I got hooked by a fish lour, It ripped my tail so we couldn't come home yesterday, just to be safe." The moms nodded, taking that excuse, 

"Okay, I'm very glad you're all safe." Felix's mom spoke this time, "We have to get to work now, stay safe boys." With that, the mothers swam away, going their separate directions, "That was way too close," Hyunjin said, "We need to be more careful, I don't think we should go up to the surface again anytime soon," Jeongin and Jisung protested loudly as they reached Hyunjin and Felix's apartment, they all lived separate from their parents, all of them lived in the building across from the road that most of the parents lived on, "But-!" Seungmin got cut off by Changbin, "I agree," Bin flashed a look at the younger as if saying 'be quiet,' "I think everyone is a bit suspicious of us right now," Jisung scowled and pushed through the apartment door, "I don't understand why we can't be friends with a human, Chan is so nice!" He pushed out of the water once they reached the magicked part of the room, "I doubt he'll ever tell on us!" He waved his hands wildly to prove his point, whacking Jeongin square in the nose, making the youngest's eyes water up and he cupped his face in one hand, "Ow!" he brought his hand away from his face and stared briefly at the blood before Felix and Changbin attacked Jisung, "How dare you do that to the baby!" Felix yelled as he repeatedly slapped Jisung with a pillow, Changbin slowly dragging the other off his cushion and back into the water, Seungmin, being the decent person he was, took Jeongins hand and pulled him towards Felix's bedroom so he could stop the nosebleed, the others yelling in the background. 

"Good now?" Seungmin tilted Jeongins head around to make sure he wasn't bleeding anymore, "Yeah, thank you," Jeongin softly grabbed Mins wrist to bring it down, "It just surprised me, it didn't hurt that much, you don't have to worry about me, I'm not a child anymore," The older frowned at Jeongin, "You will always be our baby. that is final, don't fight me," Innie blushed at those words, hoping it wasn't too obvious. right then, Jisung burst through the door "I'm sorry!" he wailed and threw himself at Jeongin "Please don't hate me!!" he looked up at Jeongin with glassy eyes, the others must've teased him a bit too much about accidentally hitting the baby of their group, "I don't hate you, Hyung," Jeongin flopped backward onto Felix's bed, holding Jisung so he didn't roll into the water again, Mer furniture was mostly all enchanted and water would roll off of all of the fabric so it wouldn't get soggy, Seungmin watched them affectionately, often the rest of the group would forget how sensitive Jisung was and pushed a bit too hard with the teasing and he would get into his own head about it, Felix pushed through the door, hanging his head slightly, obviously he had just been scolded, "I'm sorry Sungie! I didn't mean to actually be mean..." he pouted and flashed his puppy eyes at the older, who grabbed Lix's hand and pulled him on top of Jeongin as well, who groaned as Felix's whole weight flopped onto him, "Why do you guys keep hurting him today?!" Seungmin pushed them off of Jeongin and pulled him back into the water in an attempt to save him from the other boys. 

"Is there something up with those two?" Hyunjin leaned over towards Minho as they ate dinner, all sprawled out across the main room of the apartment, "Seungmin and Jeongin, I mean." Minho glanced around at the other boys, Jeongin kept glancing at Seungmin, who seemed a little too interested in playing with his food, "Huh, you're right..." Minho watched the two make awkward eye contact, blush, and look away. "I know! I wonder if they're...you know," Hyunjin said, getting quieter at the end of his sentence, Jisung leaned in "You talking about Innie and Min?" He asked softly, almost sounding upset, Felix perked up and nudged Changbin and they both turned towards the others, "Innie was blushing earlier when he had a nosebleed and Min helped him," Felix piped up, making Jisung's shoulders drop a bit in defeat. "What are you guys talking about?" Seungmin asked, noticing his friends watching him and Jeongin, "Nothing!" Felix said loudly, swimming over to Jeongin and stealing some of his food. 

"I want to go see Chan again," Felix sighed, letting himself hang suspended in the water, bored out of his mind, "I know!" Seungmin groaned as Jisung barreled straight into him, sending him spinning through the water "Ack! Sungie why?!" He giggled a bit before chasing the older around, catching him by the tailfin and pulling him back into his own chest, tickling the smaller boy, Felix watched his friends tussle playfully, grinning as Jisung tried to escape from Seungmin and Lix grabbed him again, they play fought for a while before Jisung suggested, "Why don't we go see Chan without the others? I mean, the others won't care if we just say we're going for a swim right?" he said hopefully, the other two glanced at each other before agreeing, "Let's go tell the other's we're going out then!" Seungmin said happily before swimming out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some shipping action next chapter!!!


	8. Eight

Chan had woken up in the morning, freezing cold and soaked from the spray of the waves, it was a mystery to him how he hadn't woken up as he slept, he hadn't slept for that long undisturbed in months, maybe years. He shook his curls of as much water as he could before he stood, shivering slightly as he walked up towards his room, up the stairs towards his balcony and room. He wondered if anyone realized he hadn't been in his room overnight; if anyone had noticed him laying on the dock in the freezing cold. he doubted it, people only noticed when he was gone if he was needed for royal duties or missed his classes when he was younger. He pushed through the doors, breathing a sigh of relief when there was no one inside waiting disapprovingly, he seriously hadn't needed that. 

He got changed quickly, having to literally peel the soaked clothes from him, throwing them all on the edge of his balcony to dry. He jumped at the sound of a knock at his door "Sire?" Jinyoungs voice rang out from the other side "Yes?" He called back, shutting his balcony entrance and heading over to open his bedroom doors, Jinyoung walking through and glancing around his room as if trying to find something or someone. "Jinyoung? what are you doing?" Chan asked, watching as his advisor rummage around his closet next, "Your mother asked me to find the other person who was here two nights ago." Jinyoung said and Chris felt his heart skip a beat "What do you mean other another person?" He leaned against the wall, missing the doorframe the first time and almost falling before regaining his balance. "When I knocked on your door there was definitely at least one other voice in here," Jinyoung watched Chans face for any shift in emotions, Chan, however, had trained himself years ago to not show any emotions on his face while he was being questioned by his mother or Jinyoung. "There was no one else here, I was speaking to myself again," Chris said calmly, unwilling to give away that there were Mers still alive, or that he even had another person inside his room. his advisor frowned at him, wavering on believing him before giving up "If you say so," he patted Chan on the shoulder as he left "I believe you, but you are on thin ice, Sire." he shut the doors behind him and Chan exhaled finally, sliding his back down the wall slowly. 

The day passed at a snail-like pace for Chris, he had gone to help with the planning for the meeting with the governors, which his mother had somehow turned into a full-blown gala, which he hated, and then he had to take fencing lessons, which he also hated. he finally caught a brake around four in the afternoon as he escaped to the lighthouse up on the cliff where the tree had caught on fire in the storm only two days ago, the fire had been contained quickly and put out before further damage could be caused. the lighthouse was currently unoccupied, no one lived there and they only ever used it when they were aware someone was coming so Chan had turned the basement into a hideout with his father before he died, the two had done a lot together, Chan realized as he burrowed under the many covers on a worn-out couch, they had often escaped the palace and their own duties, much to his mother's exasperation. the basement had one tiny window at the top of the wall facing the sea, he hadn't bothered to light the lanterns in the room so all the light was weakly filtering in through that tiny opening. He pulled his notebook out of his bag he had brought with him alongside a pencil to write, he loved writing, mostly music. he had taken piano when he was younger with his mother but they had since given up, not having the time anymore. He curled up, leaning against the arm and beginning to write. the night soon fell and he had to give up writing as his light faded, he mounted his horse once again to return to the palace, riding back home.

The others had let the three Mers go pretty quickly, after making them promise to be careful and be home before midnight, which gave them a solid two hours to go out and back. Felix quickly took the lead, twisting through rocks and plants just so the other two would have a harder time keeping up with him. They got sidetracked a couple of times because of that, Felix spotted a brightly coloured fish and followed it in the wrong direction for a while before the other two noticed and had to drag him away from his 'new friend' and the second time Seungmin had been laughing at something Jisung did and ran directly into a sunken log which resulted in the other two rolling around in the water in fits of laughter, once they had calmed down they finally got back on track, Felix took the lead once again as the palace slowly came into view.

"What if he's not even outside?" Seungmin realized suddenly, causing them to stop "I didn't even think about that..." Jisung put his face in his hands "Oh my...what if someone else is there?" He made eye contact with the other two, "Well...we came this far, may as well just get there and see if he is." Felix finished the conversation fairly quickly before the others could begin to spiral into more stress and his friends nodded slowly, still concerned but now in agreement, they continued swimming towards the palace beach, Seungmin smiled as they saw the familiar figure of Chris alongside his horse glancing at the others, also grinning Felix took the lead, speeding towards the beach, as soon as he reached the dock he pulled himself up waving one hand "Chris!" he called softly, not wanting to attract any attention from anyone else inside the palace, Chan, who had just been about to head upstairs to bed, jumped at the sudden noise, breaking into a smile when he saw who it was. He patted his horse's neck and jogged down the dock to see the Mers "Hello!" He greeted, pulling Seungmin and Jisung up to sit next to the sunset scaled Mer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments welcome :D


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some sungminchanlix or whatever this ship is called in this chapter !!

"So..." Chan and Seungmin had started speaking at the same time and immediately they both blushed, ducking their heads. "You go first," Seungmin, who Chan had realized quickly was not wearing a shirt, nor were the other two. he supposed it wasn't a very Mer thing to do, the extra material would just drag down and stick uncomfortably, however, seeing the three younger boys shirtless still made him red in the face. "I was just wondering why you came to visit tonight, especially so late," Chan said, noting the three glance at each other nervously at the mention of the time, they still had an hour and a half before they had promised to be home, but still thinking about getting in trouble with Minho or Changbin didn't sound fun. "We just wanted to see you again! why does the time have to matter for that?" Jisung said happily, he always had so much energy and Chan wondered where he stored it all in that tiny body of his. "Also, next time you see the others, don't tell them we were here," Seungmin said and Chan deflated slightly, did they no want to see him again? "Oh? how come?" Chris asked, watching the other suddenly become very interested in his fins, "The other Mers are becoming suspicious of us being gone so we all promised not to visit for a while..." Felix studied Chan's face, the prince looked hurt for a brief moment before he shook it off "Oh...then you boys shouldn't be here, I would hate it if you got in trouble because of me," Chris smiled tightly at the three Mers who avoided eye contact, "But we wanted to see you again..." Jisung pouted and Chan swore to himself right then and there that he would protect the smaller boy, giving in he nodded "But you mustn't stay long, just in case they notice you're missing." He said firmly and the Mers all nodded "We promised to be home by midnight, we have time left." Felix explained softly, Chris ruffled his hair, somewhat affectionately and immediately pulled his hand back "Sorry! I don't know why I did that..." Felix grinned and took Chans' hand, placing it back on his own head, leaning into the humans' touch, Jisung watching jealously and Seungmin frowning at the display of skinship in front of them, he wasn't usually one to be jealous but...something about those two having their little moment together made him feel the tiniest pang in his heart. 

The four of them sat there a while, watching the moon climb higher in the sky, Felix studying the reflection of the water dancing against Chan's skin, the older boy was gorgeous he thought to himself, it was obvious from the moment they had met how attractive he was, but now, in the soft moonlight with the quiet lapping of the waves, he looked ethereal. He sighed, placing his chin in his hands, he had loved the way Chan had ruffled his hair earlier in the night, the small display of affection had made him feel like a little boy again. "Lix? Lixie?" Jisung pushed his shoulder to try and get his attention, "Yes?" Felix turned to look at the other Mer "What'cha lookin' at?" Jisung followed his gaze to look at the Prince, who was now occupied in teaching Seungmin how to play a little clapping game, the two were giggling together and Jisung couldn't help but feel a little bad for Jeongin, "Ohh..." Jisung leaned up against Felix, shoulder to shoulder they switched to talking telepathically so Chan couldn't hear them, "He's pretty," Felix sighed again, nuzzling his face into Jisungs neck "Why can't Mers and Humans just be friends?" He fiddled his Jisungs fingers and Sung thought over his answer carefully "Because Humans kill us without being provoked first, like Innies mom or the entire northeast pod." He said heavily, not wanting to think about the brutal murders caused by humans to their kind, "But Chan wouldn't do that!" Felix exclaimed and Jisung flinched by the sudden loud noise in his head, causing Chan and Seungmin to look worriedly at them, "You okay?" Chris asked, making Jisung blush and nod quickly "Yeah, Felix scared me. It's fine." he offered an embarrassed smile to the prince who let out a small laugh "Ah," He glanced between the two, pressed flush against each other and wondered to himself if they were together, "I see." he patted Jisungs shoulder, who blushed even more and slumped into Felix, burrowing into the younger boys chest. 

Chan hesitated for a moment before finally asking "Are you two...together?" to which Felix joined Jisung in blushing, they glanced at each other before shaking their heads no, Seungmin smiled sadly, he had always thought those two would make a good couple, although it made him upset to think about either being in a relationship without him, "We aren't," Jisung clarified "None of us are in relationships currently." Seungmin and Felix nodded along with him, "Oh! oh- oh my god, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have assumed..." Chan stuttered out, embarrassed but also...relieved? "No! no, it's okay!!" Felix waved his hand to brush off the apology "we get that pretty often." he clarified and Chan nodded, "But you are..." it was Chans turn to blush now, and Seungmin thought he looked pretty with the light pink colouring his cheeks, "Interested in men? yes." Min said, "We all are." Jisung giggled shyly, "Sorry, I made this awkward didn't I?" Chris apologized again, Seungmin shook his head "No you didn't, but...are you also...?" He tilted his head inquisitively, and Chan nodded softly "but no one can know...It's not okay with humans," he whispered sadly, Jisung hugged him quickly, bare chest pressed against Chan, whos heart began pounding faster "I'm so sorry. that must be hard." He murmured as he brushed Chan's hair out of his eyes, Seungmin placed a hand on Chan's shoulder and Felix gave his hand a squeeze "Yeah..." He said quietly "They're pretty common with Mers, as are relationships with more than two people in them," Chan looked at the freckled boy in shock, he couldn't believe how casually the Mers spoke about this-if he had tried to talk to anyone on the land about this he would've been thrown out for being a sinner, especially having a relationship with more than two. "That's incredible, I hope one day we can have that here on land." Chan smiled at that thought, that one day the humans would be able to love who they wanted. 

They sat together like that for a while before Seungmin noticed how high the moon was in the sky, "We should get home before the others worry," The other Mers sighed, "You're right," Jisung said sadly, detangling his hand from Chan's hair and patting his knee softly, Felix letting go of the prince's hand and giving a small smile "We'll be back with the others, hopefully soon." The Mers slipped back into the water, Chan leaned over the edge of the dock to say goodbye "I'll be awaiting your visit." He waved at the Mers who grinned back up at him and began swimming away.


	10. Ten

Felix opened the door to the apartment quietly, the others sleeping all draped over each other, poor Jeongin being crushed on the bottom of the pile. The three returning Mers quickly swam over and pulled each other up to cuddle with their five best friends, Felix and Jisung hadn't made direct eye contact or spoken much since Chan had asked if they were together, making the swim back very awkward for Seungmin with to be with them, however, when they joined the pile of sleeping Mers all three of them pressed themselves flush against each other to fall asleep, Felix and Jisung doing so fairly quickly, leaving Seungmin awake, mind still racing. Did Felix and Jisung want to be together? where would that leave their friendship or Seungmin's feelings for them? tonight had confirmed Seungmins feelings, he had a crush on each and every one of his best friends. He worried to himself about that, he wasn't sure if the others liked him or even wanted to be with more than one other person, much less six. seven, if he was correctly interpreting his feelings for the prince. Hyunjin turned in his sleep and threw an arm around Seungmin, pulling him in close to his chest and nuzzling into the younger boy, Seungmin froze, heart racing as he felt Hyunjins breath against his neck. He relaxed after a bit, realizing that Hyunjin wasn't going to loosen his grip anytime soon, he slowly fell asleep in Hyunjin's arms. 

"look at them!" Changbin did a horrible job at keeping his voice quiet as he cooed at the two younger boys, still asleep with Seungmin in Hyunjin's arms. Minho poked Hyunjin in his cheek, the other boy groaning and swatting at his Hyungs hand. Felix giggled and joined the other two in bothering the sleeping boys, the other two watched with affectionate smiles; Jeongin slightly jealous, which Jisung noticed fairly quickly and pulled the younger boy into his lap, the two Mers were sitting on one of the cushions in the air enchanted areas in the main living room in the apartment. Jeongin squeaked as he was hauled ontop of Jisung, but soon gave in and melted into his arms. "Should we wake them up? weren't we supposed to meet with Minnie's family and swim through the gardens to see the plaque with his Grans name on it?" Minho asked and Changbin nodded "You're right, I forgot that was today." "Does that mean I can wake them up?!" Felix literally vibrated in excitement when Minho told him he could and he jumped on his two fellow maknae liners and pushed them both off their couch, laughing as Seungmin jolted awake as he hit the cold water, Hyunjin shrieking dramatically before letting go of Min and chasing after Felix as punishment for waking them up, they chased each other around the room several times before Seungmin latched back on to Hyunjin and dragged him down, Jeongin pushed out of Jisungs lap, much to the older boys dismay and joined Seungmin in play-fighting their Hyung, they finally calmed down after Seungmin and Jeongin successfully pinned Hyunjins hands and tail down. Jeongin blushed as nose actually brushed against Hyunjins at how close they were together, the others all 'ooed' and Minho bumped Jeongin on the head 'accidentally' pushing the faces of the two that tiny bit closer and, time slowed in Jeongins mind as his and Hyunjins lips touched before he pushed off him "What the fuck Hyung?!" he shrieked, Seungmins smile had faded ever so slightly, Felix and Changbins jaws had both dropped open and Jisung and Minho high-fived in the background before Changbin started scolding Jeongin for swearing, and Minho for doing something that could actually affect their friendship. 

Seungmin watched, still trying to figure out what he was feeling, it wasn't a real kiss, why did he even care? he wanted the others to all like each other, but he also wanted them to like him, oh god, what if they all started dating and left him out? he stilled and Changbin crashed into him "Ouch! Minnie why'd you stop?" he rubbed the spot on his arm he had hit, they were swimming over to the gardens to see the plaque now, Seungmin apologized "Sorry, I'm just...thinking," He cursed himself for the way his face heated up as Changbin studied his face, the crease between his eyebrows proving how worried he was. the others caught up quickly and looked between the two who were still looking in each other's eyes, "Are you guys okay?" Minho asked in a concerned tone, joining Changbin in watching Seungmin, who avoided eye contact be flipping a small stone on his tailfin, Minho cupped Seungmins face in his palm, "Seungmin? Minnie?" His eyebrows rose as Seungmins eyes slowly became redder, he realized the younger boy was crying, he assumed the stress of recent days had caught up with him. it was hard to tell when a Mer was crying underwater since you couldn't see the tears unless you were in one of the caverns or someone's house. The other maknae liners hugged him quickly, ruffling his hair in the water and whispering things into his ears. The second youngest hugged them back, still shaking into Changbin's chest as Bin rubbed his back soothingly, hushing him softly. "Do you still want to go see the plaque?" Felix asked and the others all shot him looks "You don't have to, your Gran would understand." he finished quickly and Seungmin shook his head into Bin's chest "I-I wanna go," He replied and the other's all nodded, Changbin let go of the boy before pressing a quick kiss to Seungmin's cheek right as Jisung grabbed Mins hand to lead him towards the gardens "Let's go then, okay Minnie?" he said, not really expecting an answer and Min nodded, allowing his friends to drag him towards the garden. 

Once they got there they met up with Seungmin's family, his parents, and little sister as well as his three aunts and one of his many uncles, who all gasped at the sight of Seungmins red eyes and made sure the boy was really okay. they all started towards the gates, the garden was half outside and all sea plants and half in a glass dome which had the same enchantment that made it full of air, which had canals for Mers to swim around and see the land plantation with the occasional bench to pull yourself out of the water on to talk outwardly and look around properly. Seungmin's Gran had been a gardener there, on the inside of the dome. she had almost lived there for most of her life, getting the job as a young teen and keeping it until her passing at the ripe old age of one hundred and one. Her name was now engraved into a new bench placed right beside her favorite tree, a lovely purple flowering one that stood proudly surrounded by water lilies. 

The Mers not in the family watched from afar as the Kims all crowded the bench and plaque, they stayed there for a while and Minho couldn't make out what they were saying before they started singing, which the Mers watching quickly recognized as an old Siren song, in the old language. it was about losing someone, the grief, the sorrow, and the eventual acceptance of the loss. they watched Seungmin, the boys voice was enchanting. his great-gran had been a Siren, Sirens were known for their incredible voices and the emotions they could bring forth. Minho looked around to see his friends tearing up slightly and pulled Jeongin into him in a tight hug, the family finished their song and eventually broke up, giving tight hugs and cheek kisses before Seungmin swam back to his friends, washing away the tear tracks on his face as he ducked back underwater. 

"You okay?" Jisung asked, once again taking Seungmin's hand, who nodded and wiped his eyes again, uselessly as they were in the water, only their heads poking out "Yeah-yeah I-I'm okay," Seungmin's voice came out cracked, his best friends hearts all broke at the sound, they could all feel the misery of their friend washing over them in waves.


	11. Eleven

Chan had been going down to the docks every night since the three Mers had visited, this was the third night and he worried they wouldn't come again. He knew that one of them, Seungmin, had just lost his grandmother, but...they had promised to come again, would they keep their word to come on the new moon? He glanced up in the sky, the moon a tiny sliver in the navy blue, it was gone completely the next night, he knew, he had studied stars and the night sky growing up, as he had wanted to become a navigator on his father's ship when he grew up; of course, that ship had sunk in the storm that had killed his father so that dream was dead now. He stood, realizing the Mers weren't coming tonight, starting his walk up towards the palace, then, hesitated, did he really want to go back to his room tonight and have to go to breakfast with his mother? they only ever sat in silence while they ate anyway, would she really miss him for one morning? he turned his path from the palace, deciding that they could live without him for one day. He wandered into the village, a couple of teenagers, who couldn't be much younger than him almost fell over as they recognized the crown prince, the lights by the pier were all lit, the flickering lights dancing over the boardwalk. He kept walking, not paying much mind to where he was until he reached the edge of the forest on the outskirts of the main village in their kingdom, he hadn't realized how far he had walked. the sun was rising, he noticed, the sky a brilliant red, reminding him of the youngest Mers-Jeongins-scales. He heard the church bells ringing and he counted seven dings of the bell, he had been walking for nearly ten hours, no wonder his feet ached. it would probably be another ten to get home, he groaned softly, this was a bad idea, his mother was going to kill him. 

He started his trudge back home, stopping in the village to get a freshly baked sweet roll from a bakery, the baker nearly fainting at the sight of his prince with his hair messy and wearing civilian clothes, Chan had smiled softly at the poor woman, handing over way too many gold coins for the single roll he had bought, making her thank him over and over while curtseying deeply. he took a bite out of it, eyes fluttering slightly at the taste, he might have to make regular trips to this baker, she was probably the best in the kingdom and he wondered how no one spoke about her shop. he took a break by the very edge of the pier after an hour and a bit of walking, watching the children run up and down it as their parents set up boats for fishing or preparing to leave for long voyages to other kingdoms with goods to sell, the few royal ships, loaded with the privates getting the sails prepped. 

A small girl ran up to him, eyes wide and glittering "Are you the prince?" her voice came out so quiet, as if in awe of Chan, who froze and nodded slowly "yes...but you gotta be quiet, I don't want my mother to know I came here, okay?" He said "A secret? she doesn't know where I am right now..." the little girl nodded excitedly "Okay! I can keep a secret!!" she smiled up at him, Chan softening at the sight of her gap-toothed smile, "But you should tell your momma were you go," The girl patted his knee "She's probably worried you aren't home," she perked up at her father calling her "I gotta go!! bye-bye, mr.prince!" she giggled as she ran towards her dad, Chan watching sadly as the older man picked her up and spun in a circle, the little girl shrieking with glee as her mother watched worriedly as the dad threw her around. Chan wiped his eyes quickly, realizing suddenly he was crying. He wished his family was still like that, like when his father was alive. He doubted his mother was worried as the little girl had said, but he still figured he would keep walking slowly home. there had been no soldiers on horses looking for him yet, therefore he assumed no one had gone to try to wake him up yet, it was still early so he thought he had maybe an hour before they saw him gone. 

He kept walking for a while, finally, he heard the alarm bells that signaled his mother knew he was gone and mentally prepared for the lecture he would get. A soldier finally spotted him, and he was dragged back to the palace on a horse. The disappointed look his mother and Jinyoung gave him hurt more than a lecture would, even more so as they just left, brushing around him, Jinyoung patting his shoulder gently, his mother just saying "You are excused from your duties for today." she said tightly, Chan felt more tears coming on, he would have preferred that they had yelled at him, but they knew that the silent treatment worked better on Chris. He trudged up to his room to brush out his hair, he could feel how tangled it was and he wanted to clean up his appearance even just a tiny bit before he got in trouble with the palace staff. 

He fought off tears the rest of the day, wandering the palace aimlessly. he ran into his mother once, where she hugged him, apologizing for not speaking to him that morning "I was scared you left," She had said as she crushed her son in a death grip "I didn't want to talk in front of the staff, but I'm not mad at you, okay?" she stroked his hair softly and Chan had accepted her apology, knowing she still had his best interest at heart. They had parted way again after that so his mother could continue her duties and Chris continued his aimless walk about the palace. eventually, his feet took him down to the royal beach where he walked down the dock and climbed into the old sailboat still docked there, the one he had practiced sailing in when he was younger, he sat there for a moment, then the tears he had been holding in all day finally fell, the rocking of the boat and setting sun, combined with the exhaustion from walking all night, slowly put him to sleep, tears still slipping from under his eyelids, tear tracks evident on his cheeks, and the seven Mers, holding true to their promise popped out of the water one at a time as the sun finally disappeared over the horizon line. Jisung was the first to see the prince in the boat, as well as notice the tears on his cheeks, and beckoned the others closer to pull themselves into the boat was a task, tails flopping uselessly as they pulled each other up, then Minho softly wiped Chan's cheeks, causing the prince to stir awake, eyes blinking open to see the concerned faces of the Mers, "Are you okay?" Changbin was the first to ask and Chan shrugged "I dunno," his voice still raspy and slurred from his sleep, hands reaching to rub at his eyes "Just...lonely?" he said it like a question, but it was true, the little girl made him realize how lonely, and upset from scaring his mother he was, Jeongin took his hand slowly "We're here now..." he trailed off and Felix finished for him "Talk to us." The ex-reef dwellers both looked at Chan, who felt himself melting into Changbin, who he realized had sat next to him and slipped an arm around him. "I just..." Chan hesitated, not used to being open about his emotions, and the seven pairs of eyes on him made him nervous "I-i don't have any friends, the only people I know are the people who live in the palace," Seungmin placed a hand on his leg from his place on the floor, making Chan blush slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by the Mers, "And-and my f-father died in a storm a couple of years ago a-and I've just been miss-missing him so much more recently..." He felt more tears slip down his face and Hyunjin wiped them away with his thumbs, Seungmin nodding along with Chan's explanation "We're all here for you now, we're friends now, okay?" Seungmin said reassuringly, not able to resist giving the prince a small kiss on the cheek after, and the other Mers all watched jealously as the prince blushed and hid his face in Bins' chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was lowkey pretty cute to write


	12. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more sad Chan i'm sorry :(

The eight of them sat together, Chan occasionally sniffing, his breathing still ragged from crying. Changbin was still holding him to his chest and rubbing tiny circles into his back, this seemed all too familiar to the Mers, having done the exact same to Seungmin only a week or two prior. Felix watched Chan, the older boy finally calmed down enough to breath somewhat regularly, inhaling deeply and moving away from Changbin slightly, much to the younger boy's disappointment, "I'm sorry," Chan apologized, eyes still red and cheeks flushed "I shouldn't have, I-i have to be stronger than this...I'm the p-prince, I should be better..." to which Minho clasped his hands in his own "Don't be," he cupped the prince's jaw in his hand, holding his head so they were looking at each other "You don't have to always be strong, you know," he continued "You are so entitled to feel these emotions, okay? you are strong, and I'm sure you're a wonderful prince." Chan stayed silent, no one had ever actually comforted him before, his parents had tried when he was younger, but they never had the patience to sit through the tears, generally opting out and calling Jinyoung to sit in the room and wait for Chan to stop crying. Jeongin joined Minho and Changbin at Chan's side, crushing the former by laying his full weight on his lap and starting to fiddle with the prince's hair, "You shouldn't have to hide your feelings anymore," The youngest said, very focused on a small tangle in the oldest curls, "B-but I-" Chan started, but Hyunjin was having none of it, pressing his hand over Chris's lips "No. you need to feel your emotions, not bottle them up, or else you're going to explode one day." He murmured, Seungmin and Felix nodding with his words. Jisung joined Jeongin in playing with the prince's hair, making Chan blush again, very easily flustered in his emotional state. 

Minho watched the prince, he was very conflicted right now, he had only just been untangling the mess that had been his own emotions, his crushes on his best friends, and now, this human. this boy they had only met a few weeks ago was here, and Minho couldn't help but think about how perfect the human prince would be for their group. the way his friends had been acting recently made him think that they also thought of their friends as more than that and the way they had so readily become Chan's friends, so willingly trusted a human, even after every story they had been told about humankind, he was almost completely sure that the other Mers would love to be in a relationship, it was Chan he wasn't sure about. the day the prince had saved him the older had seemed so caring towards him, but he didn't know if humans could love more than one person at a time, much less seven, even less then that seven Mers. He turned his attention away from those thoughts, he couldn't worry about such a thing while the prince was still so vulnerable. 

The other three Mers, Felix, Seungmin, and Hyunjin, who were currently just observing the other boys so close together, tails tapping against the wooden floor of the boat, shifted to join the others in cuddling into Chan, the boat rocked dangerously, the wood creaking loudly and Hyunjin grabbed the side of the boat "ugh, I hate boats," he said as the wind picked up, the boat rocking again making Hyunjin fall directly into Chan's lap, making both boys flush and giggle shyly, "I'm sorry, It's an old boat, the balance is pretty bad, my-my dad and I used to flip it over while we were trying to learn how to sail in such a small boat," The prince's voice cracked when he spoke about his father, clearing his throat quickly to try to pass it off, Hyunjin, still in his lap, reached up and wrapped his arms around the human's neck so that it was now him, Minho and Changbin with the human locked between the three of them and the other four Mers leaning against Chan's legs and the wooden bench they were sitting on. 

The wind continued to blow strongly, spraying the salty water up into the boys' faces, Chan shivering since humans weren't as used to the cold as Mers were, and even with the Mers combined body heat, the rapidly dropping temperature was enough to make his teeth chatter and he nuzzled deeper into Changbins arms, not really noticing what he was doing until Felix cooed softly, him and Jisung looking up at him with adoring eyes. Seungmin hit Felix on the head gently and crawled up onto the bench, wrapping the prince in his embrace as well, "You should head back up to the palace soon before you get...f-" he hesitated on the word "Frostbite?" He finished, the Mers agreed quickly, they had heard the stories of the sailors who had lost limbs from the cold, the elders always told them to frighten the youngsters into never straying far from the cities, "It's not cold enough to get frostbite," Chan smiled weakly as the Mer "Just enough to be kind of cold, besides I don't..." He trailed off, becoming interested in fiddling with his fingers, "You don't what Hyung?" Jisung asked and the sudden use of 'Hyung' startled Chan slightly, not expecting Mers to use honorifics, "I don't...want you guys to leave," Chan said the last bit very fast and quiet but the Mers all heard him, Jeongin giggling and joining his four other Hyungs in squishing Chan in a hug, "We don't wanna leave either, but we don't want you to get sick..." He trailed off and Chan finally smiled for real, dimples and all, "I probably won't get sick if I get out of the wind," At that, Felix and Jisung, the only ones still on the ground on the boat tugged Chan down out of the wind and salty sea spray, the others all tumbling down with him.


	13. Thirteen

Chan woke up on the floor of the boat, wrapped in a blanket that he assumed the Mers had found in the boat, as he woke up more he realized the Mers were no longer with him, he panicked for a moment, what if someone from the palace had come and found them? He felt more tears pricking at his eyes before he found a small bound piece of paper, he opened it quickly and read the messy scrawl written on it;

**_'Hello, Chan._ **

**_We had to leave early this morning for the fear that someone would come looking for us, and we did not wish that trouble upon you. We will be swimming by the east cliffs later, around noon, to search for trinkets that wash up near them if you would like to join us. Seungmin and Jeongin are worried that you will be upset that we did not wake you up when we left, but judging by how quickly you fell asleep last night, you needed the sleep. we do hope you will come swim with us later on, Felix wants me to tell you he said goodbye, I hope you have a good breakfast and a good beginning of the day._ **

**_Signed, Changbin.'_ **

Chan was very familiar with the east cliffs, he had swum there often as a child, the lowest parts of the cliffs were safe to jump off of and many children in the village did so on nice days, he didn't think he had anything scheduled for today, the planning for the ball mostly done and his lessons on hold for the time being. He threw the blanket from him and climbed out of the boat, jogging back up to the palace to get changed for breakfast.

The Mers had left that morning, Changbin and Minho having to peel Jeongin and Jisung off of Chan and Felix and Hyunjin just got dumped into the water by Seungmin because they wouldn't let go, and then they were off, swimming as fast as they could towards the city so no one noticed they were missing, Jeongin complaining the whole way about how he had wanted to stay with Chan when he woke up, but the others did a decent job of hushing him, especially after Seungmin had called him 'baby' in his tired state he hadn't realized the word had slipped out until Hyunjin took it upon himself to tease him about it. they reached the city, heading towards Jeongin's house and eating quickly, Jisung clinging to Changbins back the entire time. The Mers passed the morning quickly, Felix braiding Hyunjins hair into a little ponytail in the back since his hair was getting pretty long was getting long. Seungmin, ever fascinated by human items, grabbed a small bag to collect stuff off the cliffs, and then, they were ready to go.

The cliffs were farther than any of them remembered, taking much longer than they thought it would be to get there, but when they did they were rewarded with the sight of Chan sitting on a rock sticking out of the water, dripping and shirtless. He waved excitedly when he spotted Jeongin's red scales flashing in the water and the Mers sped up, Hyunjin reaching the rock first, Chan pulling him up and touching his tiny ponytail "This is adorable!" He said, squishing the Mers cheeks gently, "Thanks!" Felix said as he joined them on the rock "I did it!" He beamed, Chan looked much less sad then he did last night, although the prince was definitely better at hiding his emotions than any of his Mer friends were. Chan ruffled Felix's hair "It's a really good braid," Felix glowed at the praise "maybe you could do mine one day?" Chan asked shyly and Felix nodded enthusiastically, excited at the thought of getting to play with Chan's hair "For sure!" he smiled up at the human as the other Mers finally caught up, "Hi Chan!" Jisung chirped, he had finally woken up properly and was now just as energetic as ever.

They swam together for a while, Hyunjin soon found out how strong of a swimmer Chan was when he challenged the prince to a race and only beat him by a split second, his reward was being tackle hugged by Changbin, which he complained loudly about and said that should have been the punishment for losing. Chan patted Changbins head reassuringly when the smaller boy pouted at Hyunjin's words "I think it would be the greatest reward ever," The prince grinned at him and Bin hugged him too, briefly forgetting that humans couldn't breathe underwater and dragging Chan under with him, causing the prince to come up for air coughing and Changbin apologizing profusely and Changbin being the subject of the teasing for the next hour of swimming before Jisung and Felix were playing catch with a random stick and Jisung had swum straight into the cliff base.

"So," Chan started, they were sitting on the rock again and the Mers all looked at him, "I wanted to thank you for listening to me last night, and I'm sorry that I cried..." immediately the Mers exploded into a chorus of 'no!'s and 'we want to help!'s and Chan shrank into himself awkwardly, Minho placed a hand on Chan's thigh "We're always here to listen to you now, we're friends, and that's not gonna change." He smiled at the prince, who blushed again, god why did he keep blushing around these Mers? the prince cursed himself inwardly and the Mers all glanced at each other, smiling at the prince's red face. they lay there for a while, Jeongin and Felix soaking in as much sun as they could. then, Seungmin's prankster self came out, and he launched himself at Chan who yelped in surprise, and then when they hit the water, Chan's automatic reflex to pull Seungmin in closer to keep him from getting hurt, their lips brushed briefly, Chan staring at the boy in shock, about to resurface and apologize before Seungmin pulled him back down and kissed him again.


	14. Fourteen

Chris could've sworn he was having a heart attack, they resurfaced and the other Mers leaned over the side of the rock, "You okay Chan?" Minho worried, pulling the human back out of the water and Jisung tackled Seungmin, pushing him under the water again "You could've hurt him!" He scolded the younger, pushing his shoulders back and Seungmin giggled, "I'm fine, thanks," Chan said slowly, still trying to figure out what had just happened, and what he felt about it, he had first thought he had a crush on Minho when he pulled him from the storm and stitched up his wound, then he realized his feelings for Felix, Seungmin, and Jisung when they had visited him on their own, then Hyunjin, Changbin, and Jeongin the night before when they had all comforted him as he cried, and now Seungmin had kissed him-his first kiss-, an accident at first but the second time was definitely on purpose and Chan was trying to sort out the surge of emotions that came with it. Minho furrowed his brow, he hadn't seen anything happen in the water but he had a pretty good idea of what it was. 

Seungmin swam away as fast as he could, Jisung hot on his trail and Hyunjin slipped into the water to join the chase, the three of them ending up in a spinning mess in the water, "you were underwater for way too long," Jisung transmitted when they stopped spinning "What happened?" He was genuinely curious, as they floated up towards the surface, Seungmin smiled softly "I-" Hyunjin cut him off with a gasp "You kissed him didn't you?" he transmitted it so loudly Jisung flinched so hard he flipped over onto his face in the water, Seungmin covered his face shyly and nodded, Jisung frowned but quickly covered it up "Oh..." He couldn't help but sound disappointed, "That's..." Hyunjin started, his tone sad "Great, I guess..." Seungmin looked between them "Why do you sound so upset?" The other two let themselves sink to the bottom of the ocean, Seungmin following them down, "I just..." Jisung paused "I sort of had a crush on...nevermind, it doesn't matter, congratulations." he forced a tight smile, Hyunjin nodded, and Seungmin felt his heart sink slowly, he had fucked this up alright. 

The Mers on the rock had by now clued in, Jeongin frowning, he had thought that everyone liked everyone, but he guessed Seungmin had just been play-flirting, as the boys did sometimes just to piss each other off. "So..." Changbin started, Chan's eyes widened as he noticed that the Mers had realized "I am so sorry-he just-I-" Chan stuttered, the four Mers next to him on the rock all reached out and patted his shoulders, "Yeah...it's becoming pretty normal for our friend group, 'accidental' kisses, Hyunjin and Jeongin did the other day. don't worry about it, we aren't mad." Changbin intertwined his hand with Chans, who breathed a sigh of relief, his only friends didn't hate him, thank god. 

"I'm sorry, I don't know what even came over me," Seungmin said to the two other boys next to him, Hyunjin nodded and Jisung gripped his hand tightly, "I mean I didn't really know what I was doing until I did it..." the youngest trailed off, studying his Hyungs faces for any sign they were mad at him and the two others shook their heads, "I get it," Hyunjin sighed "I mean you guys made me kiss Jeongin and if you weren't there I would have probably done it again," Jisung averted his gaze, heart aching at two of his crushes admitting that they liked others in their friend group, The three of them sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Seungmin said, "I should probably go apologize to Chris." and the other two nodded, heading back towards the others. 

Chan accepted the apology quickly, saying it was just an accident, even though he knew it wasn't really. Seungmin smiled in relief as their dynamic went back to usual, everyone teasing Jisung and Changbin, who clapped back with awful remarks, making everyone else laugh as they continued their search for trinkets lining the floor, Chan and Seungmin blushing every time they made eye contact.

they stayed in the water a bit longer before Chan suggested they go to their respective homes for eating and then meet up again at the docks, to which the Mers agreed enthusiastically. They all started on their way homes, Chan pulling out of the water and the Mers ducking under it. 

The Mers ate quickly, they had all brushed off the kiss fairly quickly, figuring with the number of kisses that were going on in their friend group it would do no good to dwell on it, Seungmin was glad for that, the relief he felt when his friends teased him about the day instead of ignoring him and just pretending it hadn't happened. They ate pretty fast, all wanting to go see Chan again, especially Felix since the prince had promised that he could do his hair when they met on the docks again. He bounced around the room, giggling excitedly as the others watched him adoringly, the sunset scales shimmering and dancing in front of their eyes. 

"Let's go!" Seungmin whined, dragging out the 'o' while he waited for his friends to finally get their stuff together to go, he grabbed Jeongin's hand, who's ears turned pink and pulled him out the door behind him, the others all chasing behind the two youngest, Hyunjin swimming laps around them and laughing as Felix attempted to keep up, yelling happily as Jisung and Changbin joined in, turning their chase into a game of tag, Minho took Jeongins other hand, making the already pink boy even more flustered. Minho occasionally yelling up at them as they got a bit too close to rock formations or too close to ramming into each other. each time Minho yelled the younger Mers would stick their tongues out at the oldest, pushing each other around and play fighting, never actually going as far as hurting the others.


	15. Fifteen

The Mers reached the dock with minimal injuries (Changbin had chased Felix straight into the wall of one of the houses in the city), Chan was sitting on the end of the dock already, he had a bowl of salad next to him and he ate mindlessly as he flipped through a book. Jeongin swam up to the dock and pushed up on his arms, water pouring off of him and onto the dock, Chan scrambling backward in surprise while trying to keep himself dry, Jeongin giggling as he watched his Hyung attempt to protect his book from the water he had sprayed up towards the dock before he sat on the edge, the other Mers joining him soon, forcing Chan to sit further away as to not get in the water that the Mers had brought up with them. "Hello," Chan greeted them, shaking the few droplets of water off of his book before he put it down "How was your-" he motioned around him for a moment "Dinner?" he finally found the word, 'that was adorable,' Minho thought to himself "It was good! how was your-" He mimicked the way Chan had waved his hands "Dinner?" Chan pouted, "That's mean," he pointed at his bowl of salad "That was my dinner. now it's all wet from you guys," Jeongin apologized quickly, stumbling over his words "Sorry! I didn't see it!" he groaned and slumped into Felix, who laughed at the youngest's dramatics. 

Chan watched the Mers, so comfortable together, he wished he could join them, in the sea, anyway, the sea was more of his home then the palace ever was. He looked back up at the palace, he could see a few lights lit inside, probably the kitchens and his mother's room. He noticed the Mers eyes on him, looking back towards them and Seungmin smiled faintly "So...I had an idea," The others all looked towards the boy curiously and he took that as a sign to continue, "How about we go sailing one day? then we can all do it but it's something Chan Hyung can do too," Chan nodded, "I haven't been sailing in a long time, that could be fun!" He said happily, Seungmin grinning at the enthusiastic response from the prince, his friends agreed one at a time, Hyunjin still skeptical about boats but agreeing when Jisung had. 

The eight of them soon split into separate conversations, Felix crawling on his hands toward Chan asking excitedly if he could do his hair now, to which the prince grinned and agreed readily, he hadn't had his hair done, besides getting gelled occasionally, since he was little. So now when Felix started his braid, he had decided to do one loose one tucked right over Chan's ear, he couldn't help but melt into the younger boy's hands, grimacing when he pulled too hard, which Felix apologized for quickly when it happened. Felix purposely taking a long time to do the braid, he didn't really want to move away from the prince. he finished it eventually, tying off the braid with a ribbon and sitting back on his tail proudly, "There you go!" he smiled at the older, who smiled back, "Thank you, Lixie!" He patted the Mer's head and Felix blushed shyly. Chan hesitated, then shuffled closer to Felix and wrapped an arm around him. The others took that as a sign they were dry enough to move closer to the prince, so soon the entire maknae line was cuddled up to him. "So Chris," Minho was leaned up against Changbin as he spoke, "What's it like up on land?" He asked curiously, making Chan tilt his head, wondering about how to answer. "It's the only thing I've ever known, so I don't have anything to compare it to..." He trailed off, still considering his words carefully "I guess it's probably a lot brighter than living underwater," Minho nodded "Yeah, It gets really dark when the lights go out in the cities." He agreed, Chan smiling "The only times it gets really dark are the cloudy nights when everyone puts out their lights, but the bakers' lights are almost always lit. they stay up all night to make bread for the whole kingdom, and for trading and gifts and such." Hyunjin cocked his head "this may be a dumb question but...what is bread?" he asked, ears going red when Chan looked at him like he was insane "Do you not have that underwater?!" he shook his head in embarrassment, "I guess it would get soggy underwater, I'll bring you some next time I see you, I think you'll like it!" Hyunjin nodded, glad Chan hadn't pressed more on how he didn't know what bread was. 

"And Hyunjin is one of our top racers!" Jeongin was telling the prince about the sleek-tailed Mer's success in the races, Chan listening eagerly as the youngest told how Hyunjin had won his first race, how they had all celebrated, and how the Mer had risen so quickly to one of the favorite racers in their pod. Hyunjin embarrassedly burying his face into Seungmins chest as the baby described in great detail how much he had drunk as soon as he had become of age, the same day as he had won one of the biggest races to Merfolk, Chan laughing softly when Jeongin fondly teased his Hyung for the dumb things he had said that day, Hyunjin groaning loudly when Jeongin reminded everyone of the way he had attempted to speak to one of the statues in the middle of the city, Felix jumping into the story sometimes to add small details that made it all the worse for Hyunjin, who had never wanted Chan to find out about the weird things he had done while drunk. "Well, I think everyone had embarrassing stories about the first time they got drunk," Chan said, placing a hand on Hyunjins back in an attempt to comfort the poor boy, who looked up at him "What? what did you do?" his words came out muffled since his cheek was still pressed against Seungmin, Chan's eyes widened "oh look at the time! I gotta go!" He attempted to stand, Felix, dragging him back down "No!! you have to tell us now!" the others all agreed and Chan sighed, beginning to tell the story of how he had run into the village, his mother having to drag him home, the way he had acted that day had scarred his image for two or three years, the villagers having to regain their respect for him after he had apologized several times over time. the Mers all laughed along with the prince, who blushed as he told the story but was glad he had in the end when Hyunjin unstuck his face from Seungmin to watch Chan talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm considering making a separate chapter that is just the drunken adventures of Bang Chan, but we'll see. ;)


	16. Sixteen

Chan's mother had definitely realized there was something going on with her son, she hoped to god he wasn't going into the village, what if he had a girl? a peasant girl? or, even worse, a boy. her son, the crown prince, could never date another man, she had to stop him from ever leaving, from seeing whoever he was seeing, for she knew he must be seeing someone. So once Chan returned to the palace that night, she hadn't seen who he was with but she had heard them, she swept him away into a flurry of chores and such for him to do in the morning, making certain he had no time to escape the palace, Jinyoung following the prince just to make sure he couldn't write a letter to whoever it was, Chan seemed to realize his mother's plot after she had him do task after task, helping choose her dress for the ball and match her accessories, to which most of his ideas, which he thought were helpful, were scoffed at. he had only suggested a couple of things, silver jewellery, he thought it would look nicer with the royal purple colour that was chosen as the theme, but his mother told him she must wear gold to symbolize their wealth, and his second idea had been to wear a different silhouette from her usual ballgown, but that was shut down quickly. 

He had gotten a break around lunch, sitting on one of the many staircases and gazing wistfully out the window as he poked at his sandwich, he wished he could tell the Mers he wouldn't be able to see them today, he could imagine the disappointment on Felix and Jeongin's faces when they realized he wasn't on the beach tonight, he sighed and pushed the barely touched food away from himself, he could slip it to the hunting dogs on his way downstairs to see what his mother needed him to do next. she sent him into the throne room to meet with villagers and attempt to solve problems they had, he struggled in solving some of them, farmers fighting over land, crops being stolen, an entire herd of missing sheep (they had been eaten by wolves was the later update), and 'somehow' a house collapsing the day after the owners had fought with their neighbours. He was there for so long, the throne room got hot very early on, he could feel his curls that had been previously combed and gelled down starting to pop back up, a few young women who must be around his age blushing at the sight of him instead of his mother, but he brushed that off fairly quickly. 

The heat became unbearable throughout the day, Chan having to go into the basement with Jinyoung eventually for the fear of getting heatstroke, the rest of the civilians going home for the day and hoping to return the next day with their worries. Jinyoung watched Chans face closely, the prince wiping his forehead, knocking his crown off and onto the floor as he leaned against the wall "What?" He turned his head toward his advisor, who shook his head "Nothing, your highness," He said, "We should start heading up to see your mother, she has more for you to do." Jinyoung stood and offered a hand, Chan took it and pulled himself up to his feet, dusting himself off, they headed back up the stairs, heat washing back over them as they climbed "Wow, It's hot today, isn't it?" Chan commented as they walked towards the ballroom, Jinyoung made a sound of agreement, opening the doors for Chan, who thanked him and entered the room, striding across it to see his mother. 

"Hello, Chan," She smiled at him as he bowed slightly, "Mother," He greeted, watching her "Do I have any more tasks' today?" he asked politely, "You have lessons again, I decided I cannot have you fall behind in your studies, not if the daughters of the governors are coming, I should like you to make a good impression upon them, one of them may become your wife when you are older," Chan choked on his own spit, "I'm sorry? wife?" he asked weakly, his mother stroking his hair gently "You know how royalty goes, you may not get to choose your wife, Channie." He nodded, he hadn't thought of having an arranged marriage since he passed the age of eighteen, which was when most marriages happened for royalty or high ranking people. he also hadn't thought of having a wife in a while, not since he realized he liked men, but he supposed that out of everyone in the kingdom he was the least likely to be allowed to be with another man. much less the seven Mers he liked. 

"Chan?" His mother snapped her fingers in front of his face "Are you alright? Maybe you should go lay down, the heat seems to be getting to you." and she was at least half right, he was dizzy from the heat, the glass ceiling of the ballroom made the sun so much worse to be under, he wasn't sure how his mother still looked so perfect in her makeup and massive gown, "when do I have my lessons?" he asked hoping she would say they were later in the day, but to his disappointment, she said, "Soon, It slipped my mind, I apologize. I will walk with you to your first lesson, you do not have fencing today as we decided it was too hot and it would be dangerous," He nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as they walked, he dreaded fencing on hot days, the gear and physical movement made it so sticky he often fell asleep in the basement after his classes since it was cooler the lower down he was. His mother left him at the door to the library and patted him on the shoulder "I shall see you at dinner." He nodded and she left, her skirts swishing around her as she hurried back the way they had come, pausing to speak to a few of the staff who were carrying banners to hang by the gates. 

He sat through his lesson, trying to remain focused but he kept finding his eyes drifting towards the one window in the round room, the sea was barely visible out of it and he wished he could be down there now, playing in the water with the Mers. he sighed and tried to turn his attention back to his teacher, who seemed to be giving up on actually teaching Chan anything and instead just took a book down and began reading it, Chan went back to gazing at the waves lapping gently against the docks, fishing boats returning to the pier with the day's spoils, He knew the Mers would be on their way to the dock by the royal beach to go sailing, he hoped no one else was down there, but none of their staff ever really went down there and his mother hadn't been since his father died. he sat there for the remaining time of the 'lesson' before he was dismissed, Jinyoung coming to collect him for dinner. 

Dinner was uneventful, only him, his mother and Jinyoung at the table, the two latter deep in a conversation about the decorations and where the governors and royals would dock for the ball, he listened, but was uninterested in the topic, he struggled to keep up with the words they were throwing around, and eventually just tuned them out completely. 

After dinner, he climbed the stairs back to his room, he could see the glint of scales in the water swimming away from the palace, he felt the guilt washing over him, what if they thought he hated them? what if they hated him? he got sucked into his thoughts, spiraling around and around, he was about to run down to the beach from his balcony, but his mother had someone block the door from opening on the other side, he fell to his knees slowly, burying his face in his hands, god, what if they never came to see him again? he couldn't go see them, there was no way he could physically dive deep enough to make it to one of the enchanted caverns they had told him about. He felt his eyes fill with tears, his mother was going to keep him from ever seeing them again wasn't she? she was going to make him marry someone he didn't even know and they were going to forget about the lonely prince and move on with their lives, he didn't matter to them, he never mattered to them...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am...so sorry for what’s coming


	17. Seventeen

Hyunjin and Jisung had sped the entire way back to the docks, the other five Mers' trailing behind them. They noticed Chan wasn't there right away but figured he was just running a bit late, they swam around the docks for a bit, Seungmin collecting a couple of stray fishing lures and removing the hooks so he could keep them, "Do you think he's coming?" Jeongin asked quietly after at least half an hour of waiting, "if course he is," Minho said comfortingly, wrapping the youngest in a hug "He's probably just running late, you know, prince stuff..." he watched Felix and Changbin attempt to skip stones like they had seen humans do, just each time it resulted in a disappointing splash and Jisungs laughter, it was soon apparent that the prince wasn't going to come to meet them, "Is he mad at us...?" Hyunjin whispered; they were all leaning up against the docks now, the youngest boys' taking it much harder than Minho and Changbin, who were trying to internalize their feelings for the sake of the babies. "I guess we should head home, then..." Changbin said sadly, the others nodding slowly, Hyunjin cuddling Jisung into his chest, the younger boy worried that Chan was mad at them, a couple of stray tears rolling down his cheeks. 

They turned around, Minho caught a glance of a silhouette of someone in Chan's room, hoping he would come down, but to no use. the figure seemed to struggle with the door down for a second, but if Minho squinted he could see many things stacked in front of the door so it couldn't open. He felt his heart sink, if that was Chan, someone had blocked him from coming outside. He assumed that his mother had found out that Chan's mother had figured out that he had been talking to someone not inside the palace. He took Felix's hand to lead him home, Jeongin clinging onto his other arm the entire way back to the city. the seven Mers' started swimming home, still upset that Chan hadn't come. 

The decision had been made to go back to Jeongin's house, as it was closest, and crash there. they opened the door, all immediately heading for the bedroom to sleep in one giant pile as their usual. Seungmin, who had been buzzing with excitement that morning at the thought of sailing with the prince, was now very quiet, Changbin tugging him along gently, each of them stripping off their shirts that they had worn as to avoid sunburns and untying hair (Hyunjin), Jeongin was the first to flop onto his bed, followed by Felix, who latched onto the baby quickly and cuddled closer in, then the rest of them joined those two, Jeongin was the first to break, "Ch-chan doesn't like us, d-does he?" his voice cracked, his friends all peppered him with kisses, brushing his hair back "No, no, baby," Seungmin reassured the youngest "he likes you, okay? it's me, I fucked it up." all the others turned their attention to Seungmin "He likes you too, Minnie." Felix said softly, "I'm sure something just came up. we'll go up to the docks again tomorrow and see if he comes down. sound good?" the others agreed weakly, Jeongin's cheeks wet from tears and Seungmin trying not to cry. they fell asleep soon, it was early, but none of them had the energy to stay awake. 

Minho woke up first, Jisung and Hyunjin crushing him while they layed on top of him, Jisung was half on him and the other half on Changbin, snoring softly. He tried to gently move them so that the feeling could return to his tail but Hyunjin moaned a soft "No..." and looped his arms around Minho's neck, forcing the oldest out of them to flop back into the soft pillows, Jisung shifted into the space in between Minho and Changbin, arms still draped over Changbins chest, the other three were all tangled together, Felix trapped between Seungmin and Jeongin. Minho watched his friends slowly wake up in all their morning glory, bedhead, and raspy voices, Hyunjin still latched on to him, making all the others coo softly at him, to which he groaned and swatted a tired hand at whoever was closest. 

They stayed close when they moved into the kitchen to find food, everyone still upset over Chan not showing up. especially Seungmin who thought that Chan was mad at him, and Jeongin who really liked the prince. they ate in silence, Hyunjin still half asleep so Minho ended up feeding him off of his own spoon, had the younger been fully awake he would have probably blushed and pushed Minho away but in his sleepy state he accepted his Hyung's spoon each time he pressed it against his lips, leaning into Minho's neck and letting Felix brush out his hair, the boys' had never understood what Felix's fascination with doing hair, but they all loved the way the boy would swim up behind them and start playing with it, loving the braids and ponytails he always left them with, so eventually they started seeking him out to tie their hair and the way the small boy's eyes would light up made them all so happy it was worth the judgemental stares they would get from the elder Mers'. 

Seungmin glanced around the room, his friends all playing cards together. he was losing, badly, because every time he had the shot to make someone draw the card would land on either Jeongin or Felix and no one could stand the pouts the two would give when either had to draw more, so they mostly just let the two win, which Jisung complained loudly about each time they did, "You guys never let me win! I'm cute!" He groaned loudly, throwing his entire weight onto Hyunjin, who didn't even try to catch him and fell onto Changbin, who pushed Hyunjin back up, muscules straining when both Hyunjin and Jisung started pushing back against his arm, while they were distracted Jeongin snuck in with a win, yelling happily while the other three accused him of cheating, no real bite to their words while they watched Jeongin dance around the room victoriously, the thought of Chan slipping their minds for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sort of soft before the next chapter happens...?


	18. Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER!  
> Self-harm, not graphic but it is there!

Chan had cried, but now he was staring numbly in the mirror, the knife still in his hand, blood slowly trickling down his arm. He hadn't realized what he was doing, pressing the blade against his wrist, one cut at first, then two, three, four...seven, he dropped the blade, hands shaking violently, spots of red decorated his white button-up, he until the shirt quickly, hopefully, he could get the blood out of it later but for now, he just wanted to be out of it, he wrapped his wrist as well as he could, throwing on a new shirt, hands still shaking as he buttoned it up. His mother knocked on his door, "Chan?" She knocked again and he panicked, throwing the bloody shirt into the corner and drying his eyes as best as he could, "Yeah?" he cursed his voice for the way it wavered, "Are you alright? open the door, Chan." She demanded, he sucked in a deep breath and unlocked the door, opening it slowly "Hey, mother..." He said, pulling his sleeve lower and rubbing the back of his neck, "Why were you crying?" she brushed past him "You aren't a child anymore, Chan." he nodded, whispering an apology, she nodded sharply, "get your appearance together, son. we must greet the governors and the duke tomorrow morning." he bit his lip to stop more tears from coming "Yes, Mother." He flashed a weak smile and she pinched his cheeks, not the way Jeongin did that made Chan feel good, but in a way that made him feel like a child; like he didn't know anything. his mother left, head still held high and barely sparing Chan another glance as she closed the door behind her. 

Chan fell onto his bed, hands over his face, feeling like he was about to burst from the emotions bubbling up inside him, after the day he had cried to the Mers' he was having trouble with keeping up his strong face. he hugged a pillow to his chest, burying his face into it and whispering out apologies, to his father, his mother, the Mers'...he cried himself to sleep on his bed, eyes still puffy in the morning when Jinyoung pulled him out of his bed by his wrist, wincing at the pain, still fresh from last night, Chan sat up, rubbing his eyes and Jinyoung smiled brightly at him "Good morning, highness!" he said happily, way too happy for a person who was awake at five in the morning, "Morning," Chan groaned out, his advisor pushing him into his closet to get changed, "I laid out your clothes for today, sir!" Jinyoung told him, and Chan silently thanked whatever god was up there for the long-sleeved shirt, he got changed quickly, running down the stairs to meet up with his mother. 

They mounted their horses, well Chan did and his mother got into her carriage, riding in silence towards the pier where the ship had docked, Chan taking the lead, flanked by Jinyoung and another member of the staff who Chan didn't recognize. The civilians' had come down to watch the governors, dukes, and their daughters come off their ship, the dresses, and the dripping jewelry proving their wealth as they waited for someone to lower the gangplank, Chan remembered his royal training and reached a hand up to help them walk down it, letting them use him as balance. there were six girls, two of which the Duke's daughters, three to one of the governors, the last one to the other governor. the royals would arrive the day after, their kingdom much further away. each of the girls curtseyed to Chan but none of them seemed to truly want to be there, which Chan completely understood. They stood awkwardly to the side while their parents spoke, studying each other carefully. Chan recognized them, he hadn't seen them since he was very young and his parents threw parties all the time, leaving the children to play together. He didn't see the brother of the Duke's daughters, who he had sparred with when he was small, but when he asked his sister, who Chan remembered to be Ada, she just forced a small smile, "He was lost only a month ago. Pirates boarded his ship, He could not fight them off." Chan dipped his head "I'm very sorry for your loss, my Lady." He said, and the other sister, Briar, nodded "Thank you," She paused, looking toward her sister and friends "We hope to reconnect with you, Prince Chan, it has been many years since we last saw you and your family." 

Once again, His mother got into her carriage, this time most of the daughters joining her and the Duke and governors as well as the remaining girls got into a separate carriage, which left Chan to ride back up to the palace with only Jinyoung. His mind reeling, trying to keep his emotions in check and not let them show on his face. He could still feel the stinging on his wrists, the pain felt good to him. he knew he deserved to feel that pain, deserved to bleed, deserved every bit of the burning sensation running up his arms. He dismounted at the palace gates, purposely rubbing his arm against the harness to press the cuts in, making them sting more. 

He once again walked next to the women, he was trying to remember the which name went to which one of the governors' daughters, the three sisters looked so similar it was difficult to tell while the last was much younger and he had never met her, and if he had it was when she was so small it was impossible to match the baby to the young girl she was now, she looked to be around five or six and Chan felt bad for the tiny girl struggling in her skirts, he knew her mother had run away shortly after she was born so her father had no choice but to bring her places with him. His mother had told him to be nice to her, the poor girl had enough in her life without one of their allied kingdoms crown prince being rude to her. He offered her a hand after she tripped on a loose brick in the ground, the little girl looking up at him carefully before taking it, "Thank you," Her voice was so soft Chan could barely hear it, "You're welcome," He said "We haven't met yet, I'm Chan," He waited for her to respond, she smiled at him, Chan's heart softening at the sight of it, "I know, my name is Violetta," Chan nodded, "Violetta, it's a very pretty name." She scowled, "It was my mothers, I do not care for it." with that, the conversation was over, the girl still holding Chan's hand for balance as Chan desperately tried to keep her hand from sliding up his arm and revealing his wrist.


	19. Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly filler but I promise it'll get interesting again after this!

The Mers' had watched the boat dock, Chan looking princely as ever, though Felix noticed the prince awkwardly hiding one of his arms and constantly tugging down the sleeves of his shirt. They kept beneath the waves, the deep-sea dwellers covering Felix and Jeongin's brightly coloured scales as they watched the humans come off the boat, Seungmin had never understood how the women could stand to be in so much fabric constantly, they must be so uncomfortable and hot under all those layers. They had wanted to go and speak to Chan but the prince left quickly after the fancy people had gotten off the boat. disappointed the seven Merboys' turned around, Felix frowning as he thought back to the way the human prince had hidden his arms, even buttoning the end of his sleeves which Felix had realized he never did before. The Mer was becoming rapidly more concerned for the older, remembering how alone Chan said he was back on land. Jisung swam up next to him, watching his almost-twins face "Hey Lixie," He greeted, pushing the younger in the shoulder playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood "What are you thinking about?" Felix spared him a glance before looking back ahead of himself "I'm worried about Chan." he admitted, Sung nodding with him "Me too," He took Felix's hand gently "He seemed weird." they came to the decision to swim to the private dock later to see if they could get Chan to come down, but it seemed that his mother was preventing him from leaving his room if Minho had been correct when he saw his door boarded up. 

Seungmin had taken them to his house, the seven of them each collapsing onto a chair, Jisung flopping on top of Minho who let out a loud groan at the sudden weight. the boys lay like that, comfortable in their silence, Jeongin and Felix beginning to play a game of cards, Changbin and Hyunjin joining in after a few hands, the three youngest in that group laughing together as they ganged up on Changbin, who was soon holding at least a third of the deck. 

Chan was struggling, to say the least, his mother dragging him around the palace gardens in a flurry of stress while she lectured him on etiquette and making sure he remembered his dance steps, what fork to eat with, what topics he was and wasn't allowed to talk about. He tried to keep it all straight in his head, he could see Violetta watching from a window in the room she had been given, she waved at him shyly, giggling as his mother gripped his wrist tightly and pulled him away before he could wave back, wincing in pain as her nails dug into the scabs. He watched Violetta run away from the window she was standing in, her skirts the same colour as the flower she was named for. He hoped she was coming down to the gardens, possibly to save him from his mother, and his prayers were heard when she ran down the steps into the garden, tiny heels clicking and Chan couldn't imagine how difficult it was for the little girl to run in them on the cobblestone ground. "Chan!" She called to him, his mother looking scandalized at the informality, but he didn't mind, welcomed it in fact. 

Violetta had pulled him away from his mother quickly, the queen having little choice but to give in to the girl after she had given the older woman puppy eyes, "So Violetta," Chan started and the girl looked up at him from playing with a rose she had picked gently, "How are you liking our kingdom so far?" He asked, chuckling softly when she tucked the rose into his curls, right below his crown, "It's alright," She said "I mean, nothing compares to home," her tone was so sarcastic Chan wondered how this young girl could carry so much attitude. 

They walked like that for a while, Chan collecting all the flowers she had picked in his hands, eventually, they stopped on a bench at Violetta's request, where she took off his crown and stole her flowers back, braiding them into a new crown for him. He bowed his head to her to allow her to settle the flowers on his hair, she clapped excitedly when he looked back up "You look pretty!" she bubbled, her eyes twinkling when she watched him lean over a pond to see his reflection, "It is pretty, thank you, Violetta!" He smiled at the girl, who beamed proudly. He felt a tiny sting in his heart, she strongly resembled Felix when she did so, making Chan miss the Mers' even more. Bells rang, telling the two that lunch was starting and Chan offered her his hand to walk back inside. She frowned at him, making grabby hands while pouting and Chan melted, giving in and picking her up to carry her back inside. 

The governor watched as Chan set the little girl down in the great hall, she walked towards her father and climbed into the chair next to him, Chan sitting opposite them, next to Ada and Briar, who had seemed to make a space specifically for him to sit between them. The three other girls, Chan had just remembered their names, Charlotte, Lucia, and Renata sat beside their father next to Violetta and her father, scowling at Ada and Briar. He assumed it was because they too knew about the possible marriage, his stomach churning at the thought. they were nice girls, he knew, but frankly, he didn't want to be with anyone but the Mers', no matter how nice they were. His mother would never accept that, he knew but thinking about being with anyone but the seven scaled boys made him sad. He cleared his throat and started eating, struggling to swallow with the eyes of everyone at the table on him. His mother stood, all attention turning to her which made Chan breathe a sigh of relief, "We must be by the pier again by high tide, that is when the Queen and her husband will be here and we will greet them, begin whatever preparations you must before we leave."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments are welcome! :D


	20. Twenty

The boat had docked on time, each of the girls' waiting on the dock were wearing their nicest dresses, Violetta kicking around a rock uninterestedly. Chan waited next to his mother, head held high, crown sitting proudly atop his curls, and arms behind his back. The prince walked down the gangplank first, Chan knew his name to be Namjoon, the two of them were around the same age, Namjoon being a few years older, and Chan remembered the boy from when they were small, he was much bigger now, muscular and taller then Chan was. Chan recognized his six bodyguards, they were famously known to travel with the prince, who never left his castle without them. There were rumors that Namjoon was dating them, but most people laughed off the thought of the prince dating not only a man but six of them. 

The rest of the royal family followed the oldest son, his sister, Sunhi, and his much younger brother and sister, Jongsu and Chunja, who couldn't be much older then Violetta. the King and Queen walked down last, surrounded by guards, his mother stepped forward to greet them and that was when Chan noticed the red and sunset glints in the water, the two young Mers' hovered just below the surface, hoping that the sunlight was doing a good enough job at hiding them, which for the most part it was but Chan had by now figured out how to spot the irregularity in the water. he hoped they would have some sense and swim away soon, he didn't want to know what his mother would do if she saw Merfolk near her kingdom, much less with her son. 

Felix and Jeongin had decided to come up to the surface alone, the other's not wanting to risk traveling in such a large group, plus the two of them were more familiar with the shallower areas of the sea. Seungmin had fought to come with them but was shut down quickly by Minho when the oldest reminded everyone about how easily distracted the boy was. the two reef-dwellers sunk lower in the water to hide more while they swam closer to the dock, carefully surfacing behind the same rocks the had hidden behind the day they had saved Chan to watch better without the rippling water blurring their vision. 

Chan watched the glinting scales move towards the rocks, no one else had noticed yet, thank god, but he still wanted them to move faster just in case someone did. He zoned back into the conversation going on around him, just in time for his mother to say "And Chan will bring you to your rooms when we get to the palace," She placed a hand on his shoulder "After you are settled we will eat dinner, then sleep early so we may have enough rest for the ball tomorrow." The others nodded, the princesses curtseying gracefully to Chan, who bowed in return but he was certain he wasn't as smooth as they had been. He kept one eye on Violetta as she wandered closer to the edge of the dock, grabbing her hand right as she teetered dangerously on the edge while she kicked her rock right off the end, She hadn't seemed to notice how close she was to falling, shaking slightly from how fast Chan had reacted and pulled her back. Her father taking her out of Chan's arms carefully, thanking him profusely while the rest of the royalty on the dock watched the scene unfold, Chunja gasping loudly when the other little girl almost fell. 

Felix had been ready to dart out and catch the little girl, he didn't recognize her but Chan seemed protective of her so he assumed she might've been related to him, despite bearing no resemblance to the prince. Jeongin had grabbed his arm just in case the older tried to swim toward the dock, not wanting to be revealed to the queen. the people on the dock soon left, the young girl who had almost fallen still in her father's arms, Chan still looking concerned and completely ignoring the praise coming from the other royals from pulling her back while they walked off the dock, opening the carriage doors for everyone before mounting his own horse. the two Mers' watched them leave, diving back into the water to swim to the royal beach and to see if they could see anything there. 

The carriages pulled up to the palace, gates opening, and civilians crowding to try and get a glimpse of the royals, pushing up against the gates once they closed and watching the princesses get out of their carriage in their stunning dresses and jewelry. The youngest three being crowded by their family just in case they did something unsightly. Chan dismounted his horse and handed the reins to a stable boy standing close by, smiling and thanking the boy before joining his mother at her side again, who shot him a look, probably for being 'too friendly' with one of the peasant boys who worked for them, he ignored the look and instead glanced longingly toward the docks, half hoping to catch a glance of a Mer. He wasn't disappointed when he saw who he thought to be Jeongin poke up in the water, thanking the Lord for his good eyesight quietly as the Mer quickly dove under again. 

Chan had lead everyone around the palace and to their rooms, Violetta insisting on following him the whole way 'for the adventure' she had said, which Chan couldn't say no to when she gave him the same deadly puppy eyes as she had the day before. When they had finished dropping everyone off at their own rooms he had tried to shake her off the find her father but she grabbed his hand and pouted, "But I wanna explore Channie!" she whined, Chan couldn't help but think it cute when she did and gave in quickly, and with the little girl dragging him about the palace, he almost forgot about the knife still laying bloody under his bed.


	21. Twenty-One

Chan had crashed hard after a full day of 'adventuring' with Violetta, only taking one break for a snack and then returning to running about the castle. He had finally shaken her when her father came to collect the girl for bed, silently thanking the man, as much as he liked Violetta it was exhausting to be with children for a long period of time. He had headed up to his own room to write more in his notebook, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw his balcony doors were no longer boarded, he supposed his mother had figured he would be to busy with the ball and the princesses to sneak out again, and she was right, for the most part. he had no energy to go down to the beach after the long day of running around after Violetta, but he decided to at least go outside, the fresh air would do him some good. 

Seungmin hadn't stopped thinking about Chan on the dock, none of them had discussed it out loud but he knew everyone was concerned for the prince. He had looked so uncomfortable, constantly pulling his sleeves down and hiding his arm as much as he could. Seungmin was worried about the older boy, especially when Felix had told them how longing he had looked when he watched the waves crashing and how his face seemed to lighten when he had seen the red scales in the water. He had heard about the ball happening in the palace, as well as the rumors about Chan's mother trying to find a wife for the prince, which made all the Mers' blood boil with silent anger. He thought back to Chan crying on the dock, wondering if the boy had found anyone to talk to on land, he doubted it, especially since the two reef-dwellers had seen him on the dock. 

Minho, Seungmin, and Hyunjin decided to swim out to see if they could see anyone in the palace, the others figuring they were just going to swim around the gardens or visit one of their parents, however, the two boys were by the royal dock, every light out in the palace aside from Chan's room and the kitchens. Hyunjin had rested his head on his arms, crossing them over the dock. the three of them could see the figure on Chan's balcony, hoping it was the prince, Minho slapped his tailfin against the water loudly and ducking under quickly just in case it wasn't the prince while the other two slipped under after him as the person turned their head towards the sea. 

Chan heard the slap against the water, turning towards the water and squinting to see in the sift moonlight. He crossed his fingers that it was the Mers' and closed his notebook, heading down the stairs and reaching the beach, making his way down the dock carefully. Minho surfacing first, breaking into a grin when he saw the prince, who looked exhausted and totally drained. "Chan!" Hyunjin all but squeaked in excitement, pushing up on the dock and shaking his hair as dry as he could, Chan smiled tiredly when Seungmin surfaced alongside his Hyungs' and pulled up next to Seungmin, the two younger Mers' helping Minho up after them to sit next to Chan's feet, who quickly sat down next to them.

The four of them sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Seungmin spoke up "Why didn't you come to the dock when you said you would?" Chan froze, opening his mouth to speak and shutting it several times, Minho quickly placing a hand on his back when he noticed the boy start shaking, pulling him into a tight hug which the prince melted into, not caring that his shirt was getting soaked and just caring how close he was to Minho, Seungmin apologized and took Chan's hand gently, Chan shook his head "You-you don't need to b-be sorry," he sniffled, Hyunjin took his other hand in an attempt at comforting the boy, he smiled tightly back at the Mer "It-it's my mother...she doesn't want me to ever leave the palace or-or see anyone outside of the staff who work there...she-she," his voice broke, Minho rubbing small circles into his back. 

Chan's breath evened out again, "She blocked my door. I couldn't get down to see you," The Mers' nodded slowly, Hyunjin wrapping an arm around him, pulling him away from Minho, who whined softly when the prince shifted away from him. Seungmin watching them, unsure if he should join the hug or not, he still felt bad about kissing him out of the blue, still thinking that Chan was mad at him, even though the other Mers' had assured him that he wasn't, Chan even saying so himself the last time they had seen each other. 

"Hey-are those three still out?" Felix asked, the others all looking up from their various projects and books, frowning, Jisung nodded, "Yeah, I thought they would be back by now," He pursed his lips, glancing outside. "I wonder if they're okay," Jeongin plunked his head back into Changbin's lap, who re-threaded his fingers in the youngest's hair, "Should we go see if we can find them? I bet they went up to the royal beach to see if they could see Chris." Felix suggested and the others agreed quickly, half worried for their friends and half wanting to see Chan. 

The four Mers' swam towards the beach, getting sidetracked briefly when Jisung and Changbin paused to pick up what Jeongin knew to be a human instrument, Seungmin was going to go insane when he saw it, the youngest smiled at the thought of his friends face breaking out into a smile at the human object, his fascination with humans had never made sense to his friends, but they saw how happy it made the boy so they continued to go with him on his hunts through the sand. 

"Look! Chan is with them!" Jeongin's happy voice rang out over them, surfacing to wave at the four boys sitting on the dock, Chan smiling widely and waving back at the youngest, reaching out a hand to pull him and the others up to sit with them.


	22. Twenty-Two

Jeongin had tackled the prince in a hug as soon as he was pulled from the water, soaking Chan's shirt through immediately and making the oldest fall backward from the force behind the hug, Felix and Hyunjin reaching to try and save the two from tumbling off the dock, however, they were unsuccessful, the two boys hitting the water with a splash, Chan coming up couching and Jeongin giggling and apologizing profusely. Minho and Changbin scolding Jeongin when they reached to help them back up onto the dock, Seungmin ruffling the youngest's hair and joining in the lecturing, Chan shaking his head and repeating "It's okay! I'm okay!" over and over, but the two oldest Mer's weren't having any of it, worried about Chan getting cold in the wind that was starting to pick up, to which Chan said, "If I get cold I'll go inside and get changed, I don't want to right now." the Mer's nodded reluctantly, Jisung switching the conversation quickly, asking about the royal boat that had come in the other day. 

Felix, noticing Chan shivering in the cold, the wind that had been refreshing during the hot day now blew shard and cold, the temperature changed so fast in the evening that he wondered how the humans with their sensitivity to heat coped with it. He automatically reached an arm out around Chan, pulling him closer to himself to try and share body heat, Seungmin noticing his plan and joining the hug, squashing Chan in between them. The prince immediately tucked his face into Felix's neck, the Mer blushing and giggling in surprise.

Minho clicked his tongue disapprovingly when he noticed how cold Chan had gotten, the prince looking guiltily at him, knowing he hadn't acted on the promise to go inside when he got cold, Jeongin shuffled between them, blocking Minho's view and hugging the prince again, softly this time, he still felt bad about knocking him into the water so he cuddled tightly into the oldest's chest, tail laying heavy on the prince's lap. 

"So," Hyunjin startled the others when he spoke up in the silence "You have a ball?" He asked Chan, laying with his chin propped up on his hands; If human balls were anything like Merfolk ones, Chan wouldn't be able to get away from the palace again anytime soon. Chan nodded, "My mother wants to speak to the neighboring kingdom's royal family, as well as a few governors and the duke, there will be a few lords and ladies arriving the day of the ball," Hyunjin nodded, "And when is this ball?" He questioned "Surely it must be soon? since the royals have already arrived," Chan sighed softly "It's in a week, our parents, by that I mean my mother and the other royals and them, want me to end up marrying one of their daughters." Jisung gasped "Humans do that? why can't you decide?" He frowned at the thought of not being able to be with someone you loved, Chan just shrugged and said: "That's just how it is for most high ranking people." and that was the end of that conversation. 

Jisung was still thinking about how Chan said he might be forced to marry one of the princesses, he couldn't believe that humans actually did that, he had heard whispers that it was true before but always brushed it off as a stupid rumor, his hard feelings toward the practice may have also come from the fact that he didn't want Chan to marry anyone, much less a random person he didn't even like. He tuned back into the conversation, Hyunjin and Felix were asking about other foods on land, Chan looking a little overwhelmed but answered the rapid-fire questions anyway, Minho still watching him carefully in concern, he knew the prince couldn't get sick before the ball and he didn't want to be the reason he caught something in the cold wind. 

The comfortable way the eight of them settled together after Felix and Hyunjin got all their questions out made Chan so happy; like he was in the right place, he had never felt properly at home in the palace, especially since his father died. preferring the open water to the palace walls, and the freedom that came with the sea to the locked schedule he had to follow at home. He realized how much he had melted into the embrace of the Mer's surrounding him when he heard Felix coo at him softly, immediately he pushed off a tiny bit, resisting the urge to burrow back into the boy, too shy to look up at the rest of the boy's Chan kept his head ducked, avoiding eye contact. Jeongin, who was still laying on his lap and the only one of them who could still see Chan's face smiled up at him, dimples coming out in all of their beauty, making Chan smile back at him softly, Jeongin reaching up to poke the prince's cheeks gently. 

Chan only noticed how late-or early- it had gotten when he heard people begin to awaken in the palace, quickly alerting the Mers' who startled and slipped into the water, Felix laying a quick kiss on his cheek when he released the prince from his arms, Jeongin doing the same and making Chan blush hard and giggle softly, giving a tiny wave to the Mers' as they sped away. Felix and Jeongin high-fiving in the water, both slightly flushed and buzzing from happiness, the rest slightly jealous, the three youngest having the first real romantic interaction? of course, nothing compared to Seungmin, who had actually kissed the prince, but still. And definitely not brushing past the fact they hadn't even admitted their feelings to each other, they would have no chance at being together by this point. 

Changbin had dropped to the back of the group, deep in his own thoughts. He had recently realized his feelings surrounding the rest of his friends, he was sure they all liked the prince by this point, each one of them showing it in their own ways. he knew Seungmin liked Jeongin, well he was pretty sure they all did, no one able to resist the baby's charms. He was pretty sure Felix liked everyone as well, but the boy was naturally cuddly so it was hard to tell with him. 


	23. Twenty-Three

The rest of the week was mostly uneventful for Chan, Sunhi, the royal Kim family's oldest daughter, had told him to avoid her brother, who knew of their parent's plans for Chan to marry one of the girls, and who she said was 'overly protective of me and our siblings' before the princess spotted Charlotte and Ada playing tag with Violetta in the gardens, their fathers watching disapprovingly while the girls giggled and ran through the bushes, their casual dresses getting dirty, Suhi patted his shoulder in a friendly manner and rushed to join them, Violetta attempting to take cover behind Chan briefly before Ada scooped the girl into her arms, laughing loudly.

He watched them play for a while, wistfully, he wished he had could join in but the stares from the governors and duke watching him were too much, and he headed back inside, where he saw his mother deep in conversation with Sunhi's parents, the three of them flashing him a quick smile, his mother's not quite reaching her eyes, he nodded back to them and continued his walk up to his room, spotting Renata sitting and reading quietly in a windowsill, she looked peaceful that Chan felt bad for how his footsteps echoed in the hall, the girl looking up as he passed her and offered a tiny smile and head dip, he returned the smile and continued up the stairs, pushing through the door to his room. 

The day of the ball was so near, two days to be exact, Chan could feel how excited his mother was, she had always loved balls and galas and elegant parties. She had pulled him aside earlier in the day to speak to him, "You haven't been speaking to the girls as much as I would like you to be, one of them _will_ be your future bride." He frowned, he hated the thought of marrying one of them, he liked them, but as nothing more than friends. She kept looking at him expectantly, tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for him to reply, "What if I don't agree to the marriage?" He blurted out, she looked shocked for a moment before regaining herself "You don't have a say in it, Chan. You would do well to remember who is in charge here." She said it calmly, but Chan could sense a warning behind the words, he could agree or he could leave. He curled his lip up in a snarl and snapped out a "Fine." before he turned and left, walking with his head up until he was out of her view before breaking into a run. 

He ended up on the beach again, turning on his heel when he saw Namjoon and his bodyguards on the dock, pushing each other around on the end, several of them already dripping wet from, he assumed, being pushed in off the end. Namjoon spotted him and offered a wave, which Chan returned before leaving, now he wasn't sure where he was going but kept walking toward the cliff where Seungmin had kissed him, he assumed no one would be there today, everyone in the villages closer to the palace were busy due to the upcoming ball. He reached the edge, deciding to walk down the path to the water. 

The water was soothing, the waves hitting against the rocks rhythmically. He sat on the rock, taking his shoes off and letting his feet dangle in the water. He gazed out over the sea, the light reflecting back into his eyes, making them water. He was so focused on the waves that he didn't realize Seungmin had pulled himself onto the rock next to him until the Mer waved his hand in Chan's face, making the prince blink hard and look at the other, smiling when he saw who it was, "Hey," Chan said warmly and Seungmin smiled back "Hi!" he chirped, flipping his tail in the water. 

Seungmin had slipped back into the water after a bit of sitting together and started messing around with a couple of rocks, attempting to build a tower, but every time he got close to finishing Chan would knock it down, just to see the younger pout up at him and try again. Chan eventually gave in to Seungmin pestering him to get in the water and took off his shirt, the fabric easily ruined by salt-water, and joined the Mer, yelping softly at the temperature, Seungmin giggling "Cute," the Mer ducked under when the prince whipped a handful of seaweed at him, the two getting into a play-fight and throwing around the seaweed and splashing each-other, Seungmin laughing when Chan got hit by a wave and pushed under, coming up coughing and giggling, pushing Seungmin gently away from him. 

The boys had started racing back and forth in the water, Seungmin winning over and over, eventually, Chan giving up and reaching out to shake Seungmin's hand in defeat, the younger accepting with a proud smirk, gasping slightly when Chan pulled him in closer, the prince laughing at the stunned expression on the Mer's face, their chest's pressed against each-other, Chan gazing into Seungmin's eyes, the younger blushing softly, Chan was about to lean in, wanting to kiss the boy, but the two soon broke apart when a blur of red scales crashed into them, Jeongin immediately rushing away, Seungmin hot on his tail while Chan watched them with a fond smile. 

Seungmin caught Jeongin easily, snatching the youngest in his arms and dragging him back to Chan, laughing. the three boys' pulled back up on the ledge that Chan had been sitting on before Seungmin joined him, Jeongin hugging Chan to say hello, all still sporting smiles. 

Chan couldn't help but be a little upset when Jeongin had crashed into them, he loved -too soon for that, Chan- He thought, shaking his head, he _liked_ the boy, but _god_ did he want to kiss Seungmin or any of them, he supposed, but he was too afraid of the other Merboys' reactions. 

One day, he hoped, one day he would be able to love the Mers' the way he wanted. 


	24. Twenty-Four

Jeongin had left his house shortly after Seungmin had told them he was going to go up to the cliffs and swim around a bit, the youngest Mer heading towards the gardens and swimming around a bit, his mother had used to love it there and it always made him feel better when he was missing her. She had been speared in front of him, he could still remember how the harpoon had pierced through her chest, how her blood furled out around both of them, how her last transmission to him had been "Get out of here!" her voice laced with pain and panic, how he had swum as fast as he could home, the taste of his own mother's blood in his mouth, how he told his friends what happened, sobbing, and then, the report that they couldn't even retrieve her body because the fucking sharks had gotten there first. 

He could feel the lump slowly building in his throat, he wasn't going to cry, not here, not _again._ Jeongin decided to go find Seungmin before he did, swimming toward the cliffs and swallowing his tears. He saw Seungmin and _Chan_ , locked in a tight embrace, Chan about to kiss Seungmin, again. He hurled straight into them, feeling sort of bad when Chan gasped in surprise and swallowed the seawater, Seungmin, quick to recover, came after him quickly, Jeongin letting him catch him eventually and allowing himself to be dragged back to Chan. 

"So, Innie," Seungmin started, watching the youngest fiddle with Chan's rings, who seemed to be very interested in the boy's hands, "Yes?" Jeongin looked up expectantly, "Why did you come to find me?" Min asked and Jeongin shrugged, "Just bored," He responded, going back to playing with the sparkly rings, Chan smiled at him, the boy was too cute for his own good, "Well I'm happy to see you again!" He said and Jeongin blushed, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other two. 

Jeongin avoided eye contact with either of the older boys after that, too afraid that he was still red, Chan, and Seungmin meeting each other's eyes and the two of them cooed internally when they saw the baby's ears tinged pink, Chan eventually tired of the youngest avoiding their eyes and gripped his chin gently, forcing Jeongin to look up, making the poor boy blush even more and let out a shy giggle, Seungmin looked between the two, laughing at the youngest as he turned steadily more red "You okay there, Innie?" He teased the boy gently, transmitting the words so Chan didn't hear him, the prince looking confused when Jeongin reached out and hit Seungmin in the shoulder. "Why does it feel like you two are talking?" Chan asked, feeling slightly dumb when Seungmin snickered while he answered "Merfolk can transmit thoughts since you can't talk underwater." He explained, Chan nodding in awe "Woah, that's so cool," He gasped, looking between the two as he let go of Jeongin's face, Seungmin beamed "Thank you!" Jeongin smiled softly at the prince, half wishing he would hold him again. 

Eventually, the two Mers' tired of sitting out of the water and slid back in, holding onto the ledge and looking up at Chan, who was waiting to dry off a bit more so he could go back to the palace. Seungmin got bored pretty quickly of just sitting still and pushed off the rock, playing around in the water, Jeongin joining him after a while of watching the older boy dive and retrieve rocks, Chan throwing them back in for the Mer, reminding the prince of the games he would play with his fathers hunting dogs. 

They kept playing like that for a bit, Chan laughing when Seungmin and Jeongin fought to get down to the rock first, Jeongin once hitting the other in the face with his tailfin to push him out of the way. The prince soon realized how long he had been gone for, worrying that someone at the palace would miss him, especially since he was supposed to be speaking with the princesses the entire day, which he had not been doing, obviously. "I must get home, otherwise someone may worry." He said apologetically, the Mers' both pouting up at him, "Okay, if you must..." Jeongin spoke first "but we will see you again soon." he said firmly and Chan chuckled and nodded "Of course." the younger boys' accepted that answer, soon speeding off, leaving Chan to recollect his things and begin to leave. 

Seungmin stopped abruptly, patting his side, where a small bag sat on his hip, eyes wide "I left the necklace I found! I must've not put it into my bag after I showed Chan!" He looked to Jeongin, "I'm going to go back and find it-wait here!" He sped off, not hearing Jeongin's hesitated "Okay..." before he left, the older Mer got back to the ledge quickly, seeing Chan still there, "Chan!" He called put, the prince looking startled "Seungmin? why are you-" Seungmin cut him off, "Do you see my necklace?" He asked and Chan looked around, to where they had been sitting "It's here," He knelt to pass the Mer his jewelry back, Seungmin placing it carefully back into his bag "Thank you, so much." He breathed out, relieved that it was still there. 

Seungmin hesitated for a second before taking Chan's face in his hand, the same way the prince had done to Jeongin earlier, the older blushed, "What are you-" Seungmin kissed him, the prince melted into the kiss, Seungmin breaking away from him after a few seconds, smiling, the prince still looking cutely shocked, ears tinged pink, "I'll see you later!" Seungmin grinned wider before flipping over in the water, speeding back to Jeongin, buzzing with happiness. 

The prince stayed there for a second, watching the Mer speed away, he giggled in shock, the blue scales finally disappearing after a few moments. He finally stood back up, brushing off his knees and hands, and started his walk back to the palace. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finally learned to use italics!! I'm proud of myself :D


	25. Twenty-Five

The morning of the ball came, starting the same way most mornings did, Jinyoung coming to wake the prince, but instead of Chan just wearing whatever he felt like he had to go and be made up. He hated having his hair done, his eyes being brushed with pigments, and the many layers that went into his outfit. By the end he was already so hot he didn't know how he would make it through the day, much less dance and converse. 

Chan had headed for breakfast-or lunch, it was already late enough in the day, after that, they would tour the villages before the ball so that the civilians could come and wave to them, the royalty would wave back and have roses to throw into the crowds of people that came outside to see them, the lords and ladies meeting up with them right before they would leave on their wagons. 

All of the princesses and other girls hand been done up in their finest, Violetta frowning at her heavy skirts and kicking them around when the winds blew them around, she lightened up when she saw him, beginning to run over, before she saw everyone else's eyes on her and she slowed to a walk, dropping a messy curtsy, to which Chan internally cooed and bowed back to her, the girls giggling at the cute exchange. Prince Namjoon was without his bodyguards for the first time Chan had seen him, the older man looking much less intimidating without the six other men surrounding him, both princes nodded at each other, Namjoon had seemed to slightly move past his feelings toward Chan possibly marrying his sister, especially after his own parents had pulled him aside, and Chan had heard them scolding the older as he had walked past. 

As planned, the lords and ladies arrived on time, they had just enough time to greet each other before climbing into their respective wagons, Chan with his mother and Violetta and her father. His mother had seemed to notice how the prince had taken a liking to the little girl, and for that Chan was grateful. Violetta had started up a clapping game with Chan as they made the short travel to the first village that lined the outskirts of the palace gates, there were three different ones that surrounded the palace, those were the main villages of the kingdom. The queen sat, watching them distastefully, while she accepted that he liked the little girl she didn't seem to like her much herself, which was fine by Violetta who had stated: "I don't like the queen, she's mean." after his mother had gotten angry with her father over Chan and her playing hide-n-go-seek together. 

The civilians had come out in crowds to see the decorated royals, waving excitedly and fawning to their friends if one of them waved back, the few lucky ones who caught roses giggling and tucking them away for the fear of someone-especially a teenage girl-stealing it. They continued their tour, all of them suffering in their layers and the heat, after what seemed like an eternity they made it back to the palace, Chan and the other men hopping out first to assist the women in their heels and skirts. 

More guests had slowly trickled into the palace, captains, generals, other lords and ladies who hadn't made it for the carriage tour. A couple of mayors of the much richer cities and villages were invited as well, mostly to prove the queen wasn't biased on her invitation list and not because she really wanted them there. The ball was, to put it gently, boring. Chan hated formal events with a burning passion, the conversations always so dry, the food so weirdly small and the people so dry it hurt. 

Chan ended up speaking to Briar, the girl seemed to be just as bored as he was, the two of them giggling at Ada and Charlotte teaching Violetta to dance, the little girl stumbling over her skirts that were much too big for her small frame, Chan couldn't even see her father and he assumed the governor had just left her with the girls, which none of them seemed to be upset about from the way they attempted to be as formal and regal as they could as they shifted as far out of the way as they possibly could. 

His mother eventually stood, calling out for attention and everyone's eyes turned to her, she beckoned Chan to come closer, he did so, cautiously, he wasn't sure what this would be about but he knew it wasn't going to be good for him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, nails digging into his shoulder through the layers of his shirts, the room quieted down slowly as the band stopped playing, the slow music coming to a stop. 

The queen started her speech, the royal Kim family standing next to her, she opened with a long thank you to everyone who had come, speaking about the war generals who had only had success with their new troops, the wealth that had been brought to their kingdom, Chan thought he would get away unscathed from this, but he wasn't so lucky. 

"As many of you know," The queen scanned the room for the governor's and duke's daughters, frowning distastefully at Violetta, "We have been considering marriage for my son, prince Chan," she motioned to her son with her free hand, and Chan could feel his heart sink, "And we have finally decided on his future wife." every one of the possible girls paled, he could see Charlotte stumble backward, clutching Renata's hand and seemingly praying it wasn't either of them, much to their father's disgust. Chan's eyes widened and started fiddling nervously with his sleeve, The king stepped up, "His wife will be my oldest daughter, princess Sunhi." The princess seemed to flinch, Namjoon's expression hardened, there was a round of applause while Chan turned toward his mother "You couldn't even tell me?" He snapped, the applause dying out at the noise, "You think you can just decide you can control this part of my life?" He couldn't believe what he was saying, he was never a fan of drawing attention to himself, his mother was visibly boiling with anger but she attempted to squash the feelings readdressing the crowd "worry not, the marriage will proceed, four months hence. plenty of time for the two to grow accustomed to each other." Chan could see Sunhi bite back tears, she wanted this just about as much as he did. 

His mother turned to him "We will speak later." She snarled at him before putting her polite smile back on and going to join her guests in dancing, she twirled gracefully with one of the dukes, seemingly brushing Chan from her mind. 


	26. Twenty-Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning: the f slur!!

Chan knew he was fucked, his mother didn't even speak to him the rest of the ball, not when the king had told him and Sunhi to have their first dance as a betrothed couple, not even as they stood next to each other as they thanked the guests, poor Sunhi looked shaken and he couldn't blame her, her brother ended up taking her out of the room discreetly after getting his mothers approval to do so. Her father was scowling at him, the prince didn't want to marry his daughter? unthinkable. None of the other girls came to speak to him after either, their own parents keeping them away, it hurt him but he did understand. they weren't here to be his friends, they were here to attempt to charm his mother into choosing one of them, even though he was sure his mother had the princess selected from the start.

The ball was wrapping up, the last lord bowing before the queen, the food table was almost completely gone, the royals and others staying at the palace bowed or curtseyed before the queen and just like that, Chan was left alone with her, aside from a few staff members beginning to clean up. she took a firm grip on his wrist, making him flinch as she began pulling him alongside her, he stumbled as he followed her, just to an empty room, where she faced him, looking as if she was about to boil over in anger.

"What the ever-loving _hell_ was that, Chan?" she snapped at him, he recoiled, he hadn't heard such anger in her voice since his father had died, "You-you _dare_ to go against _my_ word in front of so many of our leaders?" she was seething, he could tell she was so close to screaming at him, so close to locking him into his room forever, "I-I'm so-" he stopped himself, she watched him expectantly "You're _what_ , Chan?" she all but hissed out, he straightened up, looking her dead in the eye. he was sick of being afraid of his own mother, "I'm not sorry." he said firmly, she seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment before " _What_? how _dare_ you? how fucking-" he cut her off, "You have no say in who I get to marry, _mother_ , you have no _right_ to meddle in something this important," he raised his voice slightly when she tried to talk over him again "I can guarantee you that Sunhi doesn't want this either, that both of us just want to be free to love who we want to." He stared her down, she held her head up and curled her lip up at the corner "what do _you_ know of love, Chan?!" she said lowly, he hesitated, he didn't want to tell her of the eight Mermen he had fallen for, he couldn't put them in that kind of danger, "I do not love Sunhi or any of those girls," His mother's face hardened when he said that, "You-you..." she spluttered, Chan chuckled lightly "You want me to finish that sentence for you, _mother_?" he spat out the word mother like it tasted vile, "I fell in love with a man. not just one either-no-in fact it was-" He was cut off as his mother's hand came into contact with his face, hard. 

One of her rings had been flipped inside, probably on purpose, the jewel cutting into his cheek, he gasped, his mother had just hit him, she had just slapped him like he meant nothing, "You-you-" her voice raised hysterically, he watched her, the confident feeling that had come over him was now gone, he felt completely at her mercy, "You fucking _faggot_!" she spat at him, he could feel tears beginning to build in his eyes, had this not been the woman who had worried over him swimming again while he was injured? the same woman who had been worried about them drifting apart? "Don't you _dare_ start fucking crying now, Chan," she said, her voice almost back to its normal volume, "You _will_ marry Sunhi, you will obey me, you have no choice." she watched him, his back pressed against the wall, hands poised to block another hit, "You are pathetic, a sorry excuse for a prince. go to your room, now!" that was all Chan needed, he ducked past her, arms still up to block her awful ringed fingers from cutting into his soft cheek again, and he ran down the hallway, ignoring the concerned call of one of the staff members who was carrying some of the food waste down to the heaps outside. 

He reached his room, by then he was fully crying, wiping his eyes and running nose on his nice dress shirt, in Jinyoung had seen him doing that he would have yelled himself hoarse. He pushed through his doors, immediately beginning to pull off his layers, he was so hot already and his tears weren't helping matters, he slammed the door closed, blocking it off by moving a chest of drawers, he let out a broken sob when the ship-in-a-bottle that his father had given him the last time he had seen him fell and shattered at his feet, glass spreading out around him, he saved what he could of the ship, stifling his tears as to not get them on the fragile wood, he didn't care too much about the glass, picking up a couple of bigger pieces, cutting open his hand in the process, he froze at the sparkling red that now seeped through the cut in his skin, he remembered the way the knife had felt as he slid it across his wrist, he threw the glass away from him, he couldn't do that again. not ever. he lay back on his bed, hoping to eventually cry himself out and get some sleep. 

Tears continued to slide down his cheeks, he didn't want this, didn't want to be with anyone other than the Mers', he wondered what they were doing right now, wondered if they were thinking about him, maybe they didn't care about him the way he thought they did. maybe Seungmin was just fucking with him, but the boy had seemed so eager to kiss him, he stopped himself from spiraling deeper into those thoughts by standing and walking toward the doors to his balcony, he squinted down at the sea, he could see a figure on the dock, he wasn't sure if it was a Mer or not, he couldn't see scales, but then again it could be Hyunjin or Jisung, he decided to go see, drying his eyes as best he could, making sure the bandage was tight enough over the cut on his hand and started heading down, breath still uneven and stray tears trickling down his face. 


	27. Twenty-Seven

Chan made it down to the dock with minor difficulty, with his vision still blurry he had bumped into the gate and stumbled on the stairs a few times, but he made it none the less. Walking down the dock, boards creaking underfoot, he hoped that no one in the palace had heard him leave his room, hoped no one was looking out of one of the many windows that faced the sea. The figure on the end of the dock seemed to panic, the footsteps startling them, Chan recognized Hyunjin quickly, the Mer glancing back at him, moonlight reflection off his face and in the soft light he looked unearthly, his panicked expression died when he saw it was Chan, only to be replaced his one of concern, "Channie?" He said quietly, reaching up toward the prince and taking his uninjured hand "What happened?" He tugged the older down to sit next to him and beginning to gently wipe the tears from his cheeks. Chan shook his head slightly "M-my mother..." He started, another wave of tears coming forth and Hyunjin wrapped him in his arms protectively, hushing him softly, "It's okay now, you're safe. you don't have to tell me now if you don't want to." He murmured soothingly, rocking the trembling boy in his arms slightly. 

The prince calmed down eventually, beginning to explain the story to Hyunjin, the Mer listening carefully to him, Chan told him about how his mother had chosen to marry him off, how he had protested, the way the ring had cut into his face, the slur his mother had called him, how he had shattered the bottle and sliced his hand on it, Hyunjin playing with his hair, the Mer never knew how to soothe his friends when they were upset, Minho or Changbin, Felix was a good bet as well, one of them always taking care of it, but he tried his best to comfort the prince. 

Chan finished talking, he was still locked in Hyunjin's arms, the Mer was oddly warm, Chan supposed that would be normal for Merfolk, being in such deep water, but it was a welcomed sensation nonetheless. Hyunjin loosened his hold, "I still don't understand arranged marriages," He paused, gaging Chan's reaction, he only looked up at the Mer, still teary-eyed, "How can you humans decide for each other who you love?" He shook his head, "You don't have to love each other. just have to make a powerful match for your parents," Chan explained, voice shaking slightly, "some royals get lucky and choose their own spouse, like my own parents, but most of the time it is arranged. I just never thought...I never realized..." He trailed off, Hyunjin watching him, "You never thought?" He prompted, the prince flushed slightly, "I never thought...I would ever come to love someone else..." he rushed out the last part, Hyunjin's heart sank slowly, the prince loved someone? that wasn't plural, he loved Seungmin. Seungmin had made the first move, maybe they couldn't be together after all...

"Hyunjin?" Chan clicked his fingers in the Mer's face, Hyunjin shook his head of the thoughts, "Yes, sorry, I spaced out." He flashed Chan a quick smile, the prince now looked worried, he had realized that Hyunjin had probably made the connection and by the look on his face, he didn't return the feelings, "O-okay...I'm sorry if that made you u-uncomfortable, I-i don't expect you to-" Chan stuttered, Hyunjin's eyes widened "Expect me to...?" the prince blushed, face already red from crying, now even redder then he was before. "To...return th-the feeling..." Chan pushed away from Hyunjin, now becoming uncomfortable with the Mer's gaze on his face, "No-!" Hyunjin blurted out, Chan flinching softly "O-oh..." Jin shook his head, "I-I do! I just...I was surprised, I thought you liked Seungmin and-I just-I don't know..." Chan crinkled his nose up, "I do like Seungmin, I l-like all...all of you..." Hyunjin gasped and Chan looked surprised "I-I mean, is that okay? is that normal?" Hyunjin nodded quickly "Yes! yes, I like all of them too! a-and you and I thought I was alone in it and-" The Mer cut himself off, beaming at the prince, who had momentarily forgotten about his interaction with his mother in Hyunjin's blur of words and movement.

They looked at each other for a moment, where did they even go from here? Hyunjin took the next move upon himself, leaning forward and pressing his lips against Chan's, both boys melting into the kiss, Chan tilting his head to deepen it, the kiss was different than the two he had shared with Seungmin, both of those had been rushed for fear of someone seeing them while this one was slow, it ended too quick for Chan's liking when Hyunjin reached up to touch his cheek and grazed the cut on the prince's cheek, the older flinching away suddenly, Hyunjin apologizing and leaning forward to check if he was okay. The prince assured him he was, chuckling softly when Hyunjin pressed a kiss over the cut, making sure not to touch it again. 

Seungmin, who had followed Hyunjin there, was in the water where he had been for quite some time, never wanting to interrupt his friends on the dock, he had heard everything Chan had said, what his mother had done, the confessions, he had watched when they kissed, jealousy boiling up inside him, he wasn't sure of who, or maybe he was just jealous that he wasn't with them. He felt the crushing relief when he heard that Chan liked them all too, as did Hyunjin, but he had suspected that for a while. He wasn't sure if he should reveal he was there, would they be mad he was? or maybe he should just head home and pretend he hadn't even left. no one would realize, would they? Maybe Jeongin would, the youngest often came to sleep with him, something he would never admit to the others, not with the way he rejected Seungmin's affection at any other time of day. The baby simply preferring snuggling up next to one of the older Mers' to sleep, especially when he woke with tears streaming down his face from night terrors, reliving the day his mother died at least once a week in his dreams. Seungmin shook his head of the worry of being missed, his friends would probably just assume that he had gone to his mothers or the garden. 

Hyunjin had by now noticed the boy in the water, he had let himself float a bit too close to the surface to remain unseen and had made a few too many irregular ripples occur when he swam deeper, alerting Hyunjin to his presence fairly quickly. Seungmin soon realized he had been spotted, swimming up to the surface by Hyunjin's dangling tail, smiling sheepishly up at the prince, who looked startled at the boy suddenly surfacing under him, "S-Seungmin!" He smiled at the boy once his heart calmed back down, reaching to help the Mer up onto the dock next to him, Seungmin happily accepting the hand and sat next to the two, "Hi," Seungmin started, glancing between the two, "What's going on?" He asked carefully, Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at him, Seungmin was being weird, he thought, weirder than normal, that is. 

The three of them sat like that for a bit, once Seungmin dried off a bit he snuggled into Chan's shoulder, the prince wrapping an arm around him immediately as if he was protecting the boy. Seungmin giggled softly at the gesture, his heart pounding in his chest. He wondered if Chan could feel it, glad for the dark of night to cover up his red face and ears. Hyunjin watched the two, Seungmin eventually reaching out an arm for him to join the hug since the youngest had sat in between Chan and Hyunjin when he had joined them, therefore breaking up their cuddling. 

"I heard you, you know." Seungmin yawned as he cuddled in closer to Chan, "I know you like all of us." The other two froze, looking at each other, this was where the dream of all of them being together ended wasn't it? Seungmin would say he didn't like them, or only liked Chan, and that would be that. But Seungmin only shut his eyes slowly, voice slurring with tiredness, and said "I like you guys too, all of you." And promptly fell asleep on Chan's shoulder, sandwiched between the two older boys. 


	28. Twenty-Eight

Jeongin had gone searching for anyone to cuddle up with, they were all at his house for the night, but all of his friends already had a buddy, each bed already occupied by two boys. He couldn't find Seungmin or Hyunjin, but the two occasionally disappeared together on long night swims, which unfortunately left the youngest alone, not wanting to disturb any of his sleeping friends. He ended up just laying flat on his back in the living room, staring blankly at the ceiling as he waited for the two missing boys to return. 

The youngest was still there when Felix rolled out of bed, untangling himself from Changbin to get something to eat, the freckled boy furrowing his brow in concern for Jeongin, "Innie?" He swam over to him, surfacing in the air pocket Jeongin lay in, "Are you okay?" He pulled himself up next to him, becoming even more worried when the youngest cuddled into him immediately, "No," he pulled Felix to lay down beside him, "I couldn't stop thinking and no one was awake to cuddle and then my head started hurting so then I lay down and I don't wanna move-" Felix pressed a finger over his lips to hush him, "You know you could've woken us up, right? We're always here for you." He ruffled Jeongin's hair gently, the baby groaning out a "Stop it~" and swatting at his hands, no real bite behind the words. 

Felix watched the boy in amusement, Jeongin not letting go of him, keeping the older locked in his grasp, the red-scaled Mer eventually fell asleep like that, poor Felix laying there still hungry, but always happy to be of comfort for any of his friends, however hungry he was. 

After a while the youngest stirred, muttering "No," and "Mom," under his breath, heartbeat speeding up, shoulders shaking, Felix, who had just been drifting off to sleep blinked his eyes open, "Jeonginnie?" he asked, the younger shaking his head, words no longer coherent as he panicked, still very much asleep. "Hey, hey, Innie wake up," Felix shook the boy awake, he bolted upright, trembling and still murmuring quietly, "Jeongin?" Felix sat up to hug the boy again, "Baby, what happened?" the nickname slipped out so easily Felix didn't even realize he had said it, Jeongin nuzzled back into his chest, "I just keep seeing that day," He sniffed "over and over again...I can't sleep anymore, Lixie." his voice cracked, Felix petting his hair softly. 

Changbin eventually came looking for his cuddle buddy, missing Felix's warmth next to him, he swam into the living room and saw the two boys cuddling, his joke about Jeongin stealing his snuggles died in his throat when he saw the younger shaking "Woah, what happened, Lix?" he quickly joined them, Jeongin instinctually reaching out an arm to pull him in closer, Felix mouthing 'nightmares' to Changbin over his head and Bin nodded, quickly understanding what had happened. 

Jisung was the next to join them, having heard the commotion, he was quickly followed by Minho, who was complaining loudly about how late it was and how he needed his beauty rest, but he quickly shut up when he saw Jeongin, who reached toward the oldest immediately, wishing for the comfort the boy brought him. "Where are the other two?" Jisung realized they weren't there as he looked around the room, taking notice of how close Felix and Jeongin were pressed together and frowned slightly, feeling kind of jealous and left out as the other three surrounded the youngest, pressing kisses to his forehead and murmuring reassurances that he was okay, that he was safe. He realized that he was kind of stupid, that the younger boy needed this right now, but he couldn't help but feel lonely, that was until Felix noticed how he was awkwardly hovering and pulled him in close, now the freckled boy had Jisung on his side and Jeongin pressed to his chest, and he couldn't be happier about that. 

\-------------------------

Back on the dock, Chan was still holding Seungmin, stopping the boy from falling into the water and Hyunjin giggling as he watched Chan struggle, making no move to help the prince from letting the other Mer fall into the sea, Chan pouting at him, "Hyunjinnie~" he whined as Seungmin fell into his lap completely, Hyunjin simply shaking his head at him, "Sorry, you're on your own, I deal with this every day." He smiled, Chan groaning dramatically "My legs are falling asleep, Jinnie," Hyunjin's eyes widened "That can happen?" he asked, Chan tilting his head at the question, "Yes?" He squinted at the Mer, unsure if he was joking or not. Hyunjin shrank under his gaze, "Oh...I didn't know that was a thing," He glanced down at Chan's legs, they looked the same to him, not at all sleeping, "What does it mean?" he asked, hoping Chan wouldn't make fun of him, "Can that not happen to Mers'?" Chan questioned and Hyunjin shook his head, "No..." He rubbed the back of his neck, "It's like when your legs go numb and then they get all tingly when you try to move, sometimes it hurts," Chan explained, Hyunjin nodding slowly while he listened. 

Chan caught Hyunjin staring at his legs a few times after that, each time Jin blushed and looked away quickly, he still didn't understand how humans functioned with legs, his friends were all so clumsy and they just had a tail, he had to assume they were easier to move with since humans had to learn to walk and control two legs. He was so fascinated by the way humans lived their lives, so different from his normal. Chan giggled shyly, "Is there something interesting, Jin?" he asked, Hyunjin shaking his head, realizing he had been staring directly at Chan for the past few minutes, "I-sorry, I was just thinking," He apologized quickly and Chan smiled "About what?" He asked, "Just about how different Humans and Merfolk are." Hyunjin smiled at the prince, who nodded "Ah, It is interesting to think about how different species live their lives," Chan responded, Hyunjin felt the relief that he wasn't the only one who thought about this, he eventually laid down on the dock, Chan following suit, pulling Seungmins sleeping figure down with him. 

"I probably have to go inside before someone realizes I left." Chan said and Hyunjin pouted at him, "Okay, but...be safe, okay? try to avoid your mother?" Chan flinched at the reminder, "Yeah, I'll try." He smiled weakly at the Mer, sitting up slowly as to not accidentally throw Seungmin off the dock, "We should wake him up," Hyunjin said "I really don't feel like hauling him home," Chan chuckled, "Sure," He shook Seungmin slightly, Hyunjin shook his head, "You gotta wake him up like this," He took ahold of poor Seungmin's shoulders, shaking his violently, frowning when he still didn't wake up and then throwing him into the sea, the younger coming back up spluttering, "What the fuck?!" he pulled himself back up onto the dock, Hyunjin scolding him for his language, even though he definitely had a worse mouth then the younger. "We've gotta go now, Minnie." He giggled at the younger who spat out a piece of seaweed, Chan watching the scene in amusement, "B-but," Seungmin looked at the prince sadly, "I barely got to talk to Channie," Chan smiled at the cute boy, "I'll still be here another time, Minnie." he said, petting the boy's hair gently. 

Both Mers' slipped into the water, Chan leaning over the edge to say goodbye, "I'll see you two soon, don't worry about me, alright?" he smiled at the two boys' looking up at him, Seungmin nodding worriedly at him. Hyunjin hesitated in the water for a moment, transmitting to Seungmin as he did "Are you gonna be mad if I kiss him now?" he asked carefully, this was a very new thing for him and he wasn't even sure if they were together yet, they had edged around the topic for the rest of the night, for the reason that they wanted to talk with the rest of the boys first, "Not at all, but you should ask him first," Seungmin responded and Hyunjin looked back toward Chan, who was looking between the two in confusion, "C-can I kiss you?" Hyunjin suddenly felt shy under the older man's gaze, Chan blushed and nodded quickly, Hyunjin immediately pushing up and pecking his lips quickly, Chan reaching for Seungmin, who blushed and did the same, placing a short kiss on the prince's lips, both giggling shyly after before Chan finally stood, "I'll see you two soon." He said firmly, "You better." Seungmin responded before they both turned in the water and sped away, transmitting back and forth about the confessions, both still shocked that the three of them felt the same way. 


	29. Twenty-Nine

Seungmin and Hyunjin pushed into the house, still buzzing and sporting grins, they had agreed to share a bed when they got back and cuddle for the remainder of the night but as they reached the living room their plans came to a quick end, Jeongins shaking shoulder and small whimpers, the rest of their friends cuddling him and whispering to him, Changbin broke away from the group, having to untangle all of his limbs from the rest of the pile, He looked mad as he swam toward the two boys' who had just returned, he dragged them away to another room to talk. 

"Where have you two been?" He asked, more concerned then mad, but the two boys' flinched back, "Sorry, we went for a swim..." Seungmin apologized, Hyunjin nodding "We thought we would be fast but we ended up taking a really long one, is Innie okay?" He asked, Changbin looking between the two suspiciously, "but Hyunjin left first, so you didn't even go together?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow, "It was unplanned," Seungmin wasn't quite sure why they weren't telling the older where they actually were but he didn't really want to have that conversation while the youngest was crying in the next room over, "Is Innie okay?" Hyunjin asked again, Changbin nodded "He was having a nightmare, Lix was with him, then the rest of us came out, and you two weren't here," Seungmin opened his mouth to defend himself and Hyunjin but Changbin raised a hand, "I'm not blaming you, we were worried you guys were hurt, but I'm sure Innie would love to cuddle with you two as well."

The three of them rejoined the rest of their little group, Felix and Jisung seemed to relax at the sight of the rest of their friends, "Hey," Minho glanced at them and Jeongin looked up slowly, making a tiny grabby hand in their direction, everyone in the room resisting the urge to coo at the boy, who looked so tiny against Felix's chest even though he was by far not the smallest in the room, Hyunjin, being the cuddly boy he was, split off from Seungmin's side, and swam toward them and quickly pulled up into Jisung's lap, the younger boy pulling him closer, the two boys cuddling into Jeongin, allowing the boy to wrap his arms around them, Jisung complaining lowly about how his ribs were being crushed, Hyunjin quick as ever to tell him to shut up.

Seungmin smiled softly as he watched his...boyfriend? they hadn't cleared that up, but he hoped the older would allow him to use that title for him, Changbin took his hand and dragged him into the pile-up and wrapped his arms around him tightly, Seungmin complaining loudly and fighting it, making Jeongin finally crack a smile, even letting out a tiny giggle, which Felix couldn't stop the "awh," from slipping out of his lips, Jeongin blushed and buried his face back into Lix's chest, "not cute," he mumbled against the older, Changbin gasped at that, "how can you even say you aren't cute?! I mean, look at this!" he pulled Jeongin away from Felix enough to see his face and squished his cheeks gently, giggling at the baby's expression, Jisung flopped over into Jeongin, letting Hyunjin fall and Seungmin just barely caught the older, "I'm cuter though, right Hyung?" he asked Changbin cheekily, smiling widely and poking his own cheeks, Minho let out a short laugh, "Keep dreaming, Sungie." He said sarcastically, the younger pouting at him, exaggerating a loud yell while he rolled away, "so mean to me!" he flopped off the cushion they were all laying on, "I'll go find something else to cuddle!" He threatened, Felix Changbin catching him before he swam away, him and Seungmin trapping the wriggling boy between them, by now Jeongin was laughing along with the rest of them, having almost forgotten his nightmare. 

They lay there together, occasionally giggling at something Jisung did or when Minho got so afraid of Seungmin sneaking up behind him after the younger went to get a snack that he threw Hyunjin straight off of him, the boy yelping as he hit the water, the rest of them giggling as he came to revenge attack Minho, who gave in quickly, not wanting to move and allowing Hyunjin to climb over him and smother him, Seungmin watching jealously as the two giggled and play-fought together, even though he did know that was just how those two were. 

Changbin had noticed the way Seungmin and Hyunjin stuck to each-others sides, you'd have to be blind not to, especially since he had spoken to them and they had so obviously lied about what they were doing, as well as how Min usually stuck to Jeongin and Hyunjin to either Changbin or Felix, it was odd and he knew he wasn't the only one who had noticed, they would have to tell him what was going on eventually, neither of them very good at keeping secrets. 

They eventually started falling asleep one by one, none of them having any energy left after playing around all night, especially Jeongin who had the worst and most draining night out of any of them, him and Jisung being the first to fall asleep, quickly followed by Minho. The rest of them slowly followed, eventually leaving only Hyunjin and Seungmin awake, the two exchanged a look, "We'll see him again soon, right?" Seungmin whispered, for a moment forgetting they should probably transmit this conversation and Hyunjin shushed him quickly, "of course," He responded, smiling at the younger, he opened his arms to let the other come cuddle since Seungmin had sat on a separate chair while he had eaten. Seungmin swam over and slid into the boy's arms, smiling as he stared at Hyunjin for a few seconds, the other opening one eye at the feeling of someone watching him, "What?" he asked, Seungmin giggled softly, "you're cute," Hyunjin blushed, pulling Seungmin closer, they brushed their lips softly, both of their eyes heavy with sleep, what they didn't know was that Felix was still awake, and he saw the whole exchange. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay-we're getting somewhere with relationships...? next chapter will be Chan, I promise!! ;D


	30. Thirty

Chan headed back to the palace, dreading the morning, but dreading seeing his mother and-oh god he would have to speak to Sunhi, who didn't want this marriage either. And her parents, and her brother, and the entire kingdom, since word had spread so fast from the mayors who had gone back into the villages and immediately told everyone what they had seen. it was an unfortunate thing, especially for the reputation of the royal families, but he knew his mother was glossing it over as best she could because god forbid she comes across as a less than perfect mother. 

He got to his room, breathing a sigh of relief when there was no one inside it waiting for him, he flopped onto his bed, a soft smile spreading across his face as he thought back to the confessions and-he kissed them, they liked him, they were _something,_ he wasn't alone anymore, well, not completely. He ended up just laying there for a while, unable to fall asleep with the whir of emotions swirling around his head, he cuddled into a pillow, just as he was drifting off there was a knock on his door, his eyes snapping open again and Jinyoung entered as quietly as he could.

"Sir?" He whispered, taking Chan's hand to pull him half out of bed, Chan rubbing his eyes of sleep, "Yes, Jinyuoung?" He asked, he could see the sun beginning to rise on the horizon, but it definitely wasn't late enough for Jinyuoung to be here waking him up, his advisor looked stressed as he sat on the bed next to him, "You are in danger, Chan. Your mother and the Kims' are very upset with you right now, especially the king. you tarnished our kingdoms perfect reputation, your mother is considering..." he trailed off, Chan tilted his head, "Considering what?" he asked, Jinyoung hesitated, "She told me that you fell in love with a boy, or boys' I suppose," 

Chan flinched, expecting he would get hit again but Jinyoung only smiled at him, "It's okay, Chan. but it isn't with her, you are in more danger then you think. She told the Kims' as well, and they aren't happy. they want you gone, Sir. they say if you aren't gone by tomorrow morning then they'll... _take matters into their own hands..._ " Jinyoung frowned, trying to find words, "they say it'll be the end of peace between the two kingdoms." He placed a hand of Chan's shoulder, "You have to run, my prince. I'm sorry this has happened to you."

Chan felt more tears pricking at his eyes, he refused to let them fall, this was his home, no matter how awful it was all he had ever known, he had always known he would be the king one day, and now that was gone, he had to leave his home for the good of his people, "I...okay, I'll leave." he whispered, not trusting his voice to speak louder. 

Jinyoung had helped him pack a bag, "You should stay for breakfast, say goodbye to Violetta. She was distraught, she had the unfortunate luck of coming into the room to find her father while they were all talking about forcing you to leave, as well as your deadline is tomorrow so you're safe for today." Chan nodded, he would love to at least say goodbye to Violetta, the little girl had somehow taken a liking to him and he would hate to leave without giving her one last hug.

"You should take your horse when you leave, it will be easier," Jinyoung said, way too casually for what was happening right now, Chan nodded again, he was at a total loss for words, never had he expected this would happen in his lifetime, having to leave the palace. he wondered what the civilians would be told, who would be the new heir? his mother had no other children, nor any close family to inherit the throne unless she was planning on giving it away outside of the family.

He wound up in the great hall, everyone in it staring him down, their ice-cold gaze making him want to shrink back, he noticed Sunhi avoiding eye contact, but as he passed her on his way to Violetta he heard her whisper an "I'm sorry," he felt sympathy for the girl, she only wanted to live her life, just as he did. 

He reached Violetta quickly, not having to stop to talk to anyone else anymore, the girl rushing into his arms, he scooped her up in a tight hug, he would miss her the most out of anyone, he had only known the little girl for a few weeks but she had quickly wriggled into his heart, with her too-big dresses and flower crowns, he would miss her bright smiles and how they would play hide-n-go-seek or tag, getting in trouble with the adults when they knocked over statues or got drenched in the fountains. 

Violetta squashed her face against his chest, he held her for a moment before releasing her, he could feel everyone's eyes still on him but frankly, he couldn't bring himself to care, he smiled at her, allowing the girl to poke his dimples before he stood and patted her head gently before he left, Violetta going to her father for comfort. 

\---------

He headed to the stables to grab his horse, first stopping to say goodbye to Jinyoung, who looked slightly teary-eyed and red in the face, but the advisor never let his emotions breaking into his voice, still as steady as ever as he helped Chan set up his horse and pass him his bag they had packed together, a few keepsakes from his father, clothes, food, and his crown; when Chan had asked why Jinyoung had packed the crown, he was being forced to leave after all, but his advisor only smiled at him and said: "Just in case," and Chan didn't press any farther. 

Jinyoung hugged him before he left, giving him a letter and telling him to open it later when he found somewhere to stay, they had come to the decision that Chan should probably lay low for a while, just while the queen tried to smooth over the situation, making sure she always came out to be in the right, before he would try to get on a boat and get out of the kingdom, all the while keeping in touch with Jinyoung just in case he ended up in trouble. 

Chan took one more look at the palace, breathing in deeply before he turned and left the one place he had ever known behind.


	31. Thirty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a (very) short filler chapter today...I'm sorry! I've been getting my driver's license, as well as my work has been picking up, and I went back to dance this week so I didn't have much time to write...sorry again.

Felix couldn't believe what had just happened, his friends were together? they hadn't even told him, which hurt a lot more than anything else, had they just not trusted him? he hummed softly, moving around to get comfortable while he thought, Seungmin's eyes widening at the movement, "Lixie? are you awake?" he asked, Felix froze in the spot, Hyunjin sighed "We both know you are, Lix. just say you are," Felix rolled over to face them, frowning at both boys while he did. 

They looked at each other for a moment, "So...how long have you been awake for?" Seungmin cursed himself for sounding guilty, Felix shook his head and faked a sleepy voice, "I just woke back up, why?" he reached up to rub at his eyes, Hyunjin catching his hands quickly to stop him "Don't, you'll make your eyes irritated," He smiled at the younger, Felix ducking his head slightly to avoid eye contact, Seungmin yawned, "We should probably go to sleep now, we want to go see Chan soon right?" He asked, the other two agreeing quickly, wanting to avoid the awkward conversation. 

Felix slumped back into the pile of his friends, reaching out absentmindedly to cuddle with the two of them, Seungmin giggling softly and pulling Hyunjin in to snuggle with the freckled Mer, Hyunjin pressing his face into Seungmin's neck gently to sleep, the three of them falling asleep in the tangled mess of limbs. 

Jeongin was the first to wake up, groaning as he tried to push up out of the arms of...everyone? he was somehow lodged between the arms of each of his friends, especially Minho and Changbin who had him pinned between them, Hyunjin, Felix, and Seungmin flopped overtop of him and Jisung was laying under him, breathing peacefully in his sleep while he held the youngest. 

He gave up eventually, slumping back into the mess of arms, by now Felix was beginning to stir awake, smiling sleepily at the younger "Hey, Innie," His voice was raspy with sleep, Jeongin returning the smile "Hi Lixie!" the older flinched at how chirpy his voice was, making Jeongin giggle softly "Sorry Hyung," he reached to pat Felix's head, the older groaning and shoving his hand away in mock annoyance, finally their 'quiet' tussling woke another boy up, Changbin watching them sleepily, catching Hyunjin quickly when he was almost thrown from the pile, the laughter quickly waking up the rest of them. 

The three youngest decided to go for a swim after they ate, playing tag while they swam through the city, Seungmin losing consistently when Jeongin flashed his puppy eyes, or when Felix brawled straight into him and sent them both spinning, Jeongin chasing after them to stop them from hitting something. 

Jeongin pushed Felix into Seungmin in his escape, the older yelping and pulling him back to try to throw him towards the last boy, who grinned widely when he tagged Felix and cheered for his victory, though it was short-lived when Lix tagged him straight back, laughing at the shocked expression on his face. 

They gave up on the game after Seungmin kept complaining about the unfairness, opting to just swim and talk with Felix holding both of their hands while swinging them around, very unsafe but they were having fun so who would tell them not to? "So," Jeongin said when he finally freed himself from the spinning tornado that was his friends, "How come you and Hyunjin were gone last night?" Seungmins eyes widened, Felix stopped swimming, "I was wondering that too," He frowned at the younger, "We just went for a swim, no big deal..." he tried to shrug it off, Jeongin squinting suspiciously at him, "Okay..." he didn't press further, not wanting to upset Seungmin. 

Jeongin suggested they headed home soon after that, the swimming in awkward silence too much for him to deal with at that moment, especially if he was right with his suspicion about where Seungmin and Hyunjin were last night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very proud of this chapter, but I needed to get something out today to split the two Chan chapters I have written so that they weren't back to back, I'm sorry for this chapter, It's definitely not my best work...


	32. Thirty-Two

Chan had reached the edge of the first cities and villages between the palace and the less wealthy towns fairly quickly, especially since he had been on horseback this time rather than walking. he was so numb inside, he couldn't let himself break down now. not while he didn't have a place to sleep, not while he had no money, not when he had no way to contact the Mer's, especially Hyunjin and Seungmin. 

He wound up by the shoreline to give his horse a break and let him drink from a near freshwater stream, he himself sitting next to the stream and searching through his bag that Jinyoung had packed, silently thanking the man for the food, glass bottle of water, and a small bag of coins that he had completely forgotten to pack for himself, but Jinyoung was always much better at remembering things then he was. 

He noticed the letter at the bottom of his bag, it was stamped with the royal crest in red wax and Chan let out a dry laugh, the creatures on either side of it staring up at him blankly as he pushed it aside in the bag, not sure if he had the time to sit and read while he had nowhere to sleep tonight and limited supplies. 

It was just past noon when he finally decided to keep going, maybe he could find someone in the smaller towns to take him in for the night, he got up to start getting his horse ready to leave, reattaching the equipment that he had taken off due to the heat, he kept catching himself looking toward the sea and hoping the glints of sunlight were scales, but he knew he was giving himself false hope. 

He finally stopped stalling and mounted his horse again, heading further and further from the palace. He stopped recognizing the landmarks after a while, his father had never taken him this far away from home, he was getting scared by now, he didn't know what he was doing anymore. his whole life had always been set in stone but now...he was lost, literally. He had no idea where he was. 

The sun just kept climbing in the sky and Chan was getting more and more nervous, he would probably have to sleep outside at this rate and he had no interest in getting eaten by wolves at night. He missed the Mer's already, what if he never got to see them again? He shook himself of the thought and kept moving, he couldn't keep thinking like that or it would rip him apart. 

He had ridden through several towns by now, each time he had thought he could make it to the next one, but he now realized the next one was too far down the road to make it today and he would have to figure something else out for the night. He dismounted his horse again, taking a quick sip of water and leading the horse to the same stream he had been following along the shoreline, he was incredibly grateful that the freshwater had woven along the same way he had been going so that he could actually drink something. 

"Alright, boy." He said aloud, hooking the harness onto a tree so his horse wouldn't run away, "I've gotta figure out how to light a fire now," he kept talking out loud, the comfort of hearing even his own voice helped him focus, He was breathing heavily by the time he finally lit the fire, but it was worth it when he watched the orange flicker to life. 

"Channie!" the sudden outcry from the water scared Chan as Jeongin surfaced near the shore, he looked up in surprise when the rest of the Mer's followed suit, the seven heads breaking the water as they paddled as close to the beach as they could before they had to haul themselves along the sand, rather ungracefully Chan had to admit. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Chan asked, sitting on the sand to talk to the Mer's at eye level, "We're just finding trinkets and stuff for Minnie and we saw you!" Felix chirped happily, motioning to Seungmin, who waved shyly at the ex-prince, "Why are you here, Chan?" Minho asked curiously, the rest of his friends nodding quickly with his question, "I-" Chan hesitated, how to even explain the story without telling them about his crushes? and him and Hyunjin and Seungmin? He fumbled for a moment before starting his story, edging around what had happened with his mother as best as he could. 

The Mer's moved in closer to hold the boy's hands and offer small words of support, Felix shuffling in closer to cuddle up next to the ex-prince, Chan smiled weakly, "I'm not even sure what I'm feeling right now," He shrugged helplessly, "I'm just...numb." Minho nodded, reaching to ruffle his hair slightly and fiddle with the mess of curls, Chan melting into his touch.

It wasn't long before Jeongin started asking questions about why his mother had gotten so mad, and why the royal Kim's had forced her to make the final decision. Seungmin watched his panic set in while he tried to explain without telling them what had happened with himself and Hyunjin, "do you think we should just tell them?" He transmitted to Hyunjin, who jumped at the sudden voice filling his head, making the rest of them look at him in concern and Hyunjin played it off like a crab pinching him. 

"I think we should," Hyunjin agreed quickly, Chan's ears growing increasingly pink while he stuttered, Seungmin tilted his head to show he heard him before he forced his voice into Chan's head, it was unnatural feeling to try to transmit to a human, it was dizzying. He pushed on anyway, "We think you should just tell them," Chan yelped at the sudden voice, Changbin automatically reaching toward the older to comfort him, Chan looking at Seungmin in shock before shaking his head and saying "I have something to say," 

He took a deep breath, Hyunjin placing a hand on his leg in moral support, "I-" Seungmin shook his head when Chan started, and the oldest corrected himself quickly, "We," Jisung interrupted immediately "Who's we?" He asked, Chan smiled and motioned to himself, Seungmin, and Hyunjin, "The night after the ball when I opposed my mother, I went down to the docks," He looked at Hyunjin, who nodded in approval, 

"Hyunjin was there, and I told him everything. why my mother got so mad," Jeongin watched him intently as he explained, Chan feeling incredibly small under the boy's gaze, "I told my mother that I loved-liked someone else," Chanbin deflated at the confession, it wasn't him..."Well-more then one someone," He fiddled with his fingers, "She didn't like that, she yelled at me and hit me, called me f-something h-horrible," He felt the lump rising in his throat but did his best to swallow it, he was telling them a very toned down of the real story, but the Mer's got the idea. 

"I'm so sorry," Minho said quietly, Chan shrugged, "Not your fault," He looked up again, blinking away the tears that had filled his eyes, Felix pulling him into a tighter hug, "Then what?" Jisung pressed gently. 

"I...I told Hyunjin who I liked and Seungmin overheard..." Chan hesitated again before Changbin asked; "Who is it? If you don't mind me asking..?" Chan offered a small smile before opening his mouth to finally admit his feelings. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to upload at least twice a week now! I have to pass my drivers exam today so I stress-wrote this chapter, hope you enjoyed this more than the last one! :D


	33. Thirty-Three

The silence that fell after Chan's confession was deafening, Felix blinking hard and rubbing his ears, Jeongin sucking in a breath and nodding slowly, Chan looked down, "It's okay if you don't feel the same..." he deflated, shoulders slumping. Seungmin reached to place a hand on his arm, forcing a smile while they waited for someone to say something, Jeongin finally being the one to break their silence, "I feel the same way..." He glanced around at the rest of the Mers, who looked shocked at the youngest confession. 

Felix followed soon after, taking pity on how embarrassed the baby looked, "Me, too." he looked around at the rest of them, Changbin opening and closing his mouth in shock, Jisung bright red in the face, and Minho was just quietly watching the scene unfold. 

Changbin and Minho quickly admitted their own feelings after the awkwardness became too much to stay silent, now everyone's eyes were on Jisung, the poor boy melting under the heavy gazes directed at him. 

Jisungs mind was racing, this had gone so much faster then he thought it would, and now Chan didn't even have a place to stay? how could they even help him, they couldn't stay on land and keep him company forever, how would this even work out? there were so many of them, what if someone decided they only wanted to be with one person, what would happen? How had everything happened this fast, this was too much for the boy to keep up with. 

The rest of the boys sitting on the sand watched as the other started to tremble, Chan quickly reaching out to comfort him, allowing Jisung to bury himself into his chest until he got his breath back under control, "it's okay, Sung, you don't have to feel the same," Seungmin placed a hand on the olders back, making Jisung feel worse, even though he knew Seungmin meant well with his words. 

"I-i do...but I just..." He trailed off, the rest of the boys breathing sighs of relief at the confession, Minho furrowing his brow, "you just...?" Jisung shrugged in response, "I don't know...just overthinking things..." He dipped his head back into Chans neck to hide from the stares he was getting from everyone else.

Hyunjin watched the scene unfold, unable to enjoy the feeling of relief and happiness while Jisung was still so distraught looking. He and Seungmin made eye contact over the heads of everyone else, how did they even help this? whenever one of their friends had anxiety attacks or just felt overwhelmed it was always Changbin or Minho, as the oldest's, who came to the rescue and calmed them down, the younger Mer's always just offering physical comfort for whoever was upset. 

"I'm sorry, I'm okay, sorry-" Chan cut Jisungs rambling apology off quickly, "Why are you sorry?" He forced a tiny smile as he watched the younger, who was fiddling with his fingers and avoiding eye contact, "I-i don't know..." he stuttered out "I just got overwhelmed by this, it all happened so fast-I mean, I'm happy, but what do we even do now? what do _you_ even do now? where can you stay?" he rushed through his words now, voice becoming more and more panicked as he thought more, Chan fell silent at his words, looking down at his own lap.  
  


"I..." he started, but he couldn't find any words to make Jisung feel better, the younger was right, after all, Chan had nowhere to go and no one on land to talk to. He had little to no money and he was already nearly out of food, Minho smiled at him, "We'll figure it out, Chan. Don't worry, You're going to be okay." He said softly, he wasn't sure if he was helping Jisung or Chan by this point, this had gotten very confusing very fast. 

Jisung eventually shuffled away from Chan, much to the human's dismay, smiling embarrassedly at the rest of the boys, Hyunjin lunging forward immediately to statch him into his arms, Jisung yelping in surprise as he did, the others soon grew tired of just sitting quietly and observing and joined Hyunjin in tickling poor Jisung, Minho and Chan watching in disapproval while Sung writhed in the sand and tried to escape.

They ended up sitting in a tangled mess while the sunset, Jeongin once again finding himself draped over Chan's lap while Felix played with the oldest's hair, Seungmin snuggled close into Hyunjin's chest with Jisung and Minho on either one of his shoulders, and Changbin with his tail flopped over Jeongin with his head on the edge of Felix's tailfin. 

Chan's fire fizzled out after he had tried to rearrange it, the structure collapsing in on itself with sparks flying everywhere, making Felix gasp in amazement when they rained down onto the sand, and soon after that the glowing coals faded out, much to everyone's disappointment, the heat had been nice the lay next to, Chan had had to help the Mer's get up closer to the flames so that they wouldn't get cold, but he now realized that they should leave to go home soon, especially since he didn't want anyone to stumble upon them just sitting in the open of a random beach. 

The Mer's protested when Chan voiced his concern, but they all did realize he was right in the end, Jeongin pouting and making Minho waver for a moment, it couldn't hurt to stay the night, right? but Chans worried tone finally took over even the youngest, and he agreed reluctantly, only after the promise of his favorite meal for breakfast. 

Chan helped carry the Mer's back down the beach towards the water, kneeling next to them while they made sure everyone was okay and ready to leave, Seungmin laying a quick kiss on Chan's cheek before he turned in the water, Hyunjin following the youngers example, Chan grinning widely at them, he had almost forgotten about everything that had happened just earlier, that was until he watched the glittering scales finally disappear and realized just how alone he was on this beach, only a horse behind him and a sad, burnt-out fire. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI SO I WROTE THIS LAST WEEK AND THOUGHT I PUBLISHED IT IM SO SORRY


	34. Thirty-Four

Chan slumped against his horse, the steady breathing of the creature calming his nerves, still on high alert, every tiny sound making the boy flinch and reach for his knife, he knew he couldn't sleep tonight, it was too dangerous to let his guard down. 

He shivered against his horse's sleek coat, the heartbeat reassuring him that he wasn't alone as he sat in the darkness of night, the cold night air biting into his skin and the wind stinging as it whipped into him. 

The ex-prince ended up humming a soft lullaby under his breath, the familiar tune bringing him some comfort in the darkness. He pulled his legs up to his chest in an attempt to stay warm, playing with his blade in the sand to keep himself awake. 

He continued his songs late into the night, only stopping when he could see the sun beginning to rise and the birds beginning to chirp in the trees, when he stood and stretched out his limbs, shaking himself of sand. 

Chan began re-packing his few belongings, still thinking about the night before, what where they now? he hoped the answer was boyfriends, but honestly, they hadn't talked about it at all after they confessed, and he realized now that had been a mistake, especially since he was alone and they were all together, they would most definitely talk without him and he would be out of the loop, which didn't sound like something he wanted to happen. 

He stared at the water, hoping that a Mer would surface and he wouldn't have to just leave, even though everyone knew that there was a chance he wouldn't stay in the morning, he wrote a quick letter when no head broke the surface, disappointment filling him as he explained that he had to keep moving and they would be able to catch up soon, followed quickly by an apology to the Mers for everything that was happening. 

He mounted his horse, emotions still bubbling inside of him while he tried to fight them down, he wasn't going to fall apart again, that wasn't an option. not now, not ever. 

Riding along the same stream he had followed to that beach soon became too difficult, the rocks and fallen trees combined with the light drizzle of rain that had started was impossible for his horse to walk along, so the relief that came from finally reaching one of the last villages on the edges of the ocean, before the kingdom's territory went further over the land, the rest of the beaches and such belonging to the neighboring kingdom, was very welcome. 

He had first spotted the lanterns at the edge of a tavern, with a pier sticking out over the choppy waves, boats rising and falling with the water, right on the outside of the village, the merry sounds of the travelers inside carrying outside, so he quickly changed his course towards there, maybe he could stay there until the rain stopped. 

The person manning the gates to get into the tavern was very friendly, she recognized Chan as the ex-prince pretty quickly, apologizing softly and saying; 

"We heard what happened, most of us agree with you, yeah? you shouldn't be forced to marry anyone." she said sincerely, Chan forcing a small smile and nodding, "Thank you," He said softly, "My dad's the tavern owner, he's on your side too, you can pro'lly stay 's long as you like," the girl grinned at him, Chan relaxing at that, "Really, I just need somewhere to stay until the rain passes, then I'll be out of your hair." 

She quickly introduced herself as Kaia, bringing his horse around the back towards the stables, "We'll have 'im all comfy back here until you decide to leave," she flashed him another of her stunning grins, eyes lighting up each time she did so, "So, what's this beauty's name anyway?" she asked, making Chan smile softly "his name's Squall! my dad named him," Kaia nodded, her eyes still twinkling in the soft light, "Gorgeous name for a gorgeous horse," She patted Squall's neck one last time before ushering Chan toward the tavern. 

She took him in through the back door, yelling at her father in a language Chan didn't understand, but he took it that everything was okay as her father flashed a grin at him and waved before returning to his tasks. 

He followed her up a flight of stairs to a hallway full of rooms, watching her awkwardly as she stopped to chat with a group of people who looked around her age and wave them downstairs, laughing as they left, she glanced back at Chan, apologizing for getting sidetracked before opening the door to one, "You can stay here 's long as you like, storms not gonna pass for a while, at least that's what the sailors are sayin'," 

She left after explaining how the staff was dressed differently and how he could call on her whenever; she also told him she was eighteen just to make sure he knew that he could call on her and her friends for drinking buddies if he needed them. 

He sat on the edge of the bed, sighing deeply. at least he had a place to sleep now, and if the sailors were right in saying the storm wouldn't pass soon he would need the room, and sailors were usually right about these things. 

He watched the rain drum against the window, soon becoming a downpour and he was glad he wasn't outside in that, especially since he had all of his belongings on him, some of which shouldn't get wet. 

The sounds of people's laughter from the main room of the tavern soon became too much to resist and he went back downstairs after making sure his bag of belongings was stored safely beneath his bed, taking a few of his few coins with him to hopefully buy some cheap food. 

He entered the room, it wasn't yet evening, barely scraping noon, so they weren't serving alcohol quite yet and the children seeking shelter from the storm were still allowed inside the bar area, making the already rowdy room even louder as they rushed around playing tag and shrieking. 

He sat at a table as one of the staff promised to be with him in a moment, watching around to room to become acquainted with his new surroundings, head snapping back to look at the other side of his table as a cloaked figure sat down, removing their cloak to rid themselves of the wet layer, and the eyes of Jungkook, one of Prince Namjoon's bodyguards, stared back at him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in my head, Kaia looks like the tiktoker emeryhoneys, but honestly i guess it depends on how you read her lmao.


	35. update!!!

Hey, so this is not abandoned!! i’m so sorry how long it’s taking, i haven’t been home and with my computer for a few weeks and i only just got wifi a few days ago, i’m trying my hardest to get the next chapter out as soon as possible!! i’m so sorry for the wait!


	36. Thirty-Five

Chan sucked in a quick breath, why was the guard there? did Namjoon send him out to find him? how had he caught up to him so fast and how did he even know what direction he was going in? Jungkook raised a hand, bringing Chan's mind to a flying stop, 

"I'm not here to hurt you or any of your...friends," Jungkook glanced around at the tavern distastefully, "And Namjoon doesn't know I'm here, don't worry about that." 

Chan nodded, heartbeat calming down, "Then why are you here?" He kept his muscles tensed, poised to deflect an attack, but Jungkook was leaning back in his own chair now, relaxed, if not a bit uncomfortable seeming. 

Jungkook hesitated for a moment, eyes darting around the room as he thought, "I'm here to ask you about a few things, and to give you a few warnings," Chan frowned, "Ask then," He invited, tilting his head and opening his hands slightly on the table. 

The guard breathed deeply, "Why did you do what you did? You threw away everything, and for what?" His eyes widened as he spoke, "Do you love these random boys that much?" He seemed distressed now, hands waving around, Chan cocked his head, puzzled, why did Jungkook seem this upset over this particular aspect. 

"I did it because I don't want to be trapped in that life, I hated it. my entire life had already been planned for me, I couldn't stand it anymore, the forced marriage was the last straw for me." Chan started, "it wasn't everything, not for me. The boys are my everything. maybe some people can be happy in the life I left. But I wasn't." 

"B-but who are these boys?" Jungkook continued his questioning, bothered by Chans answers, no one would abandon royalty for a few random peasants, right? thats what he had always heard. why where these boys more special to Chan then he was to...he brushed the thought off, giving his head a slight shake, "Never mind, it doesn't matter." 

Chan was still mulling over everything Jungkook had said, why did he seem so upset? it wasn't as if they were friends, they had spoken maybe once, when the guard had first been appointed. but the other seemed to want to move off this topic quickly, saying; "And my warning for you," making Chans eyes snap back to him. 

"your mother is still livid, word got out very quickly, as I'm sure you know, and the Kim's will not forgive you for what you did to their daughter. you are in danger. they have already hired huntsmen to track you down. you are lucky I got here before them. you are not very subtle, your tracks are incredibly visible. especially to the trained eye." 

Jungkook studied him closely, Chan sank back in his chair, nodding slowly. he would have to leave, maybe take a boat. get as far away as he possibly could. he combed his hair back, tugging on it nervously.

"Hate to bother you two, but you've been sittin' here pretty long and not eatin', need me to bring you anything?" Kaia was back, now wearing a kitchen apron and holing a tray full of empty glasses, Chan waved his hand to pass politely and she grinned and nodded, "Thank God, I was hopin' to take my break now anyway." She patted him on the shoulder quickly and flashed a quick smile to Jungkook before turning to walk away. 

The storm soon passed over, the sky remaining dark and grey, but the sailors who had docked the day before after hearing about the storm decided to take their leave so they could arrive at their next location on time. 

Chan decided to go visit Squall in the stables, Jungkook trailing him the entire way there to see his own horse, they made uncomfortable small talk as they walked, Jungkook visibly embarrassed by his bizzare questions earlier in the day. 

Squall was standing somewhat nervously in the small stall he was in, obviously disturbed by the thunder. there was a boy sitting in the corner of his stall, he jumped up when Chan opened the door, apologizing quickly, "I'm sorry! he was really upset by the storm earlier and I came to calm him down! I'll leave now, sorry again!" He attempted to leave ut Chan stopped him quickly, "no need to apologize, thank you for watching him." 

The boy soon introduced himself as Wesley, he lived in the village but liked horses so much he spent most of his time in the taverns stables, long enough to be hired as a stable boy by Kaia's father. 

Wesley was a chatterbox, Chan learned that pretty fast, he never stopped talking the entire time he showed Chan where the tools to groom Squall where, Jungkook watching with amusement from his own horses stall and the few other people inside the stable smiling at the boy with adoration, Wesley was clearly very beloved by the tavern regulars. 

Chan finished grooming Squall, deciding he would stay one more day at the tavern while he figured out how to move on from here, he wanted to try to contact the Mer's, let them know what was happening, but he wasn't sure how. 

Jungkook finally left back into the tavern while Chan was still puzzling over the Mer's, he finally headed down to the pier over the water, thanking whatever god that was up there that the tavern was on the sea, he sat on the end of it, feet dangling over the edge. 

He watched the sailors rush to get their ship ready, pulling and tying ropes and yelling to eachother while they prepped, he turned his attention back to the water, it was still choppy and the sky still dark, but the worst of the storm had definitely passed. 

The ship finally left, which made Chan realize how long he had been sitting there, it had to be hours, there was no way they got that sized ship ready to leave so fast. 

Finally the cloud cover broke, just in time for the sunset. brilliant reds and pinks streaking across the skyline, making him almost miss the famillier glint of scales in the water. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for how long this took!!


	37. another update!

Hello! It's been a very long time...I've had a lot to deal with recently, and I haven't had time to write for myself...

My sister got checked into a rehab, which means I'm the oldest now and I have to sorta watch my other siblings constantly, and constantly be on call for my job. 

I'm also still in school and it is midterm season...but never fear!! the new chapter is being edited and should be up very soon!!

once again...I'm so sorry for the wait!


	38. Thirty-Six

Jungkook lay flat on his back in his room in the tavern, mulling over everything he had spoken to Chan about, he was still upset over the conversation he had had with Namjoon the last time they had seen each other, the words still stung even though it has been several days. 

Namjoon had stood, looking princely as ever, by the window as he watched people begin to prep his father's ship when Jungkook found him about the topic, which had been a conversation they, and the rest of the 'guards' had avoided for years, but now...it seemed unavoidable. 

"How do we proceed...with this?" Jungkook broke the silence between the two, motioning between them, Namjoon narrowed his eyes at the younger man, "We won't." His answer cut into Jungkook like a knife, why did Chan fight for his loves but Namjoon wouldn't?

Jungkook fought down the emotions that were threatening to bubble out of him, He couldn't believe this. They-being himself, Joon, and the other five 'guards' had been together for years. they still loved each other...right? 

Maybe Namjoon didn't really love them, he was just using them. maybe it was all fake...the pain Jungkook felt when he had to explain this to the rest of his 'boyfriends'? was horrible, Jimin seemed to deflate under the heavy words. 

Jungkook snapped back to the present time, blinking hard to rid his eyes of the tears, the room around him blurry as he sat up. 

The sun was now almost gone, Jungkook finally hauling himself out of his bed to get something to eat, and with the thought to re-find Chan to say goodbye, just so the ex-prince wouldn't panic that he had gone to report back to his mother. 

Chans heartbeat raced as he saw the glimmer in the water, it could've been a trick of the light, there's no way they were here...right? 

As the glimmers came into full view, he realized it was indeed his lovers, the seven boys in the water dancing gracefully through the waves. 

The youngest sped ahead of the pack, pushing the rest behind him as he hurled himself onto the dock, barreling Chan backward on the wet wood. 

Chan didn't even mind the sharp splinters that dug into his back as he slid back on the sleek deck, embracing the youngest tightly, the others becoming slightly jealous of the scene quickly, and Felix wriggled into the hug quickly. 

Jungkook made his way down the path to the dock, his mind racing, he wasn't sure what to even tell Chan, just that he was leaving? 

He finally reached the dock, he spotted Chan just sitting there, and was about to call out when he watched the prince get absolutely obliterated by a Mer leaping from the water, the laughter floated over the dock and back up to the man, the feeling of jealousy over the relationship prickling under his skin. 

He finally said 'screw it', and headed down the dock anyway, feeling almost bad as he watched the happy reunion. 

He heard one of the Mers, the one with a bright red tail, say, "Chan, who is that?!" in a panicked tone, Chan spinning around and standing quickly, relaxing when he saw Jungkook. 

"Hello, Jungkook," Chan said cautiously, blocking the Mers partially with his body, "What do you need?" He asked, the bodyguard raising his hands to show he wasn't a threat, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving now." 

"Why would Chan care?" another Mer piped up, squinting at him suspiciously, "Hush, Jisung," Chan patted the boy's shoulder gently, "I'm just making sure you know so that you don't think I went to report to your mother or something." Jungkook glanced at the cluster of Mers, "I'll leave you alone now, see you around." 

The bodyguard spun around and walked up the dock, still as perfectly poised as always, his posture as straight and regal as it was before his life got flipped over. 

The Mers quickly moved on, Chan still focusing on the bodyguard for a few moments before Jeongin and Seungmin's playful wrestling stole his attention. 

He could've easily sat there all night, chatting with Minho about the Mer culture while the younger Mers chased each other around the dock, Felix grabbing Chan's legs sometimes to hide, or to steal his attention for a quick kiss. 

But all good things must come to an end, the laughter of the group falling silent as they heard a commotion at the inn, people must've been waking up. 

"We should go." Changbin put in finally, the boys deflating slightly, but slowly agreeing with him. 

"We should..." Hyunjin agreed sadly, pecking Chan on the cheek softly before sliding back into the water, "I wish we didn't!" Jeongin complained to Chan, from where had hauled himself onto the ex-princes lap after he had grown tired of the playing. 

Chan patted his head softly, "I know, Bub. But'cha gotta go now..." he stifled a yawn, "And I gotta make a plan..." He sighed deeply, passing the youngest over to Changbin to hold, he pushed onto his knees to say goodbye to the rest of the boys. 

He accepted a quick kiss from each of them, saying hushed goodbyes before watching the boys speed away in the water, Minho telling him that they would see each other again soon. 

Chan finally stood after he could no longer see the boys, slowly making his way back up to the tavern to get something to eat, and hopefully, some rest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how long it took me to get this out...


End file.
